Time For Ex Miners To Receive The Money They Are Owed

Over 150,000 miners have been improperly charged by solicitors, regarding compensation claims. These solicitors still owe miners £100 million for charging for legal advice, when their legal fees were being paid by the Government.

This is a truly outrageous situation. It is deplorable that people have taken advantage of sick and elderly ex miners and it is deplorable that so many of these ex miners have not had their legal fees reimbursed. Coming from a mining family, whose Grandfather died early because of lung damage caused by working conditions in the mine, I find anybody taking advantage of ill ex miners to be morally reprehensible.

The Government must act to ensure that miners who are owed money receive their money. This means the Government acting proactively to ensure that ex miners who are owed money know that they are owed money. It means that Government should take whatever action is necessary to ensure that ex miners receive money that is rightfully theirs. It is five years since this outrage came to light - ex miners should not have had to wait this long to get their money back.

The Government also needs to take action to speed up those cases that are still outstanding. In March 2008, there were 67,532 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases and 5,569 vibration white finger claims outstanding. We need quicker action to deliver justice for ex miners.

It is a moral imperative that the Government does all that it possibly can to reunite ex miners in North Durham and throughout the country with money that is rightfully theirs.