CAMPAIGNERS in York say they are “shocked and disappointed” by claims the Government has decided against restoring compensation for people suffering from an asbestos-related condition.

The York Asbestos Support Group has been pressing for ministers to overturn a Law Lords ruling which blocked payouts from insurance firms to people with pleural plaques – scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos dust.

The Lords said victims should not get compensation unless or until they developed full-blown diseases such as the cancer mesothelioma.

According to a national newspaper, senior Government sources say it has now decided not to reverse that decision, and it is instead expected to offer victims £5,000 payments from the taxpayer.

Support group spokeswoman Kim Daniells said that if this were so, many mesothelioma victims would be denied any chance to recover compensation. “They will not be able to even investigate a claim until they are diagnosed with a terminal illness,” she said.

“Prior to last year’s Lords decision, awards had been quite limited in scale but proved an effective way for victims to safeguard future claims if they went on to develop more serious conditions such as mesothelioma. If this happened, they could revive the claim and recover additional compensation quite swiftly.”

But York MP Hugh Bayley, who chaired a Commons committee examining a Private Member’s Bill calling for plaque victims to get compensation, said he had received no information that the Government was about to block the proposals to change the law.

He said it was employers and their insurers who should pay compensation, not the taxpayer, adding: “York, sadly, has a high incidence of asbestos-related diseases, particularly among former employees at the carriage works.”

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said it intended publishing a response to a consultation paper on pleural plaques before the summer recess, which would be informed by medical reports and other submissions.

“We recognise the sense of grievance felt by pleural plaques campaigners as a result of the Law Lords judgement in 2007, and we are actively considering the most appropriate way to respond.”