SNP and Labour in war of words over miners’ delayed compensation

Jan 27 2011 by Chris Clements, Hamilton Advertiser

MORE than 200 former miners in Lanarkshire died while awaiting compensation for a deadly lung condition brought on through working in the pits.

During parliamentary questions in Westminster last week, it emerged that 1855 Scottish miners died before receiving their payout from the UK Government under the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) scheme.

The figures, compiled by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, showed that 212 miners in Lanarkshire passed away before receiving the cash.

Of those who died, 26 men lived in Hamilton and 46 in Motherwell.

A war of words has now erupted after Alex Neil, SNP MSP for Central Scotland, attacked Labour’s record on the issue and their treatment of the workers, stating that miners were cheated out of thousands of pounds.

The MSP claimed that compensation payments were delayed by legal wrangles between miners and the former Labour UK Government, who sought to block the bid for compensation by the mining trade union, NACODS.

Alex Neil also hit out at the length of time it took to process many of the claims.

This week, Alex Neil said: “Thousands of miners died before they saw a penny from the compensation that was rightfully theirs.

“They were awarded the money – despite Labour's attempts to stop it – because they contracted this terrible killer-disease, often after spending their working lives underground in unimaginable conditions.

“Miners and their widows should not have had to fight tooth and nail for this money from a Government whose party claims to stand up for the working class.”

He added: “It's wrong that after such a hard-working life, these miners spent their last years scrimping and saving, through ill-health, while waiting for money that would have made a big difference to them.”

However, former miners’ leader and Labour MP for Lanark and Hamilton, Jimmy Hood, hit back, labelling Alex Neil’s statement “a low political attack”.

He told the Advertiser this week: “This is a low political attack from the SNP who played no part in securing the compensation scheme.

“The death of any miner from industrial disease is a tragedy for all of us ex-miners and for the SNP to exploit it to score political points is pathetic.

“Labour stood by the miners through thick and thin, and has done more for retired miners and mining communities than any government in history.

He added: “This is one of the biggest industrial compensation schemes in the world, supporting retired miners, their loved ones and their deceased families.”