BARNSLEY MP Michael Dugher is calling on the government to reverse a rule change that makes it harder for former miners and their relatives to claim compensation for potentially fatal lung disease.
The MP for Barnsley East is helping spearhead a campaign for an urgent rethink from ministers amid fears that ex-miners and their families could be “cheated” out of a vital cash lifeline.
Thousands of miners contracted pneumoconiosis - also known as miner’s lung or black lung - after breathing in coal dust at work.
Under the 1974 Coal Workers Pneumoconiosis Scheme, ex-miners, as well as their widows or family members, are able to claim for compensation for their illnesses.
But Mr Dugher has warned that a change in the rules for making compensation claims could affect thousands of families of ex-miners in Barnsley.
Read more in this weeks Barnsley Chronicle
