MPs from across the political divide have urged the Government to “backdate” the increase in payments to asbestos-related cancer sufferers after new compensation rules were unveiled.

The coalition announced this week that compensation will rise to match 100 per cent of average civil claims, up from the current 80 per cent, with sufferers set to receive up to £54,000 extra.

Those diagnosed with asbestos-related mesothelioma will benefit from the payment increases.

The Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme has already paid out more than £19 million in its first ten months.

, helping hundreds of diffuse mesothelioma sufferers across the country unable to claim compensation as their employer or employer’s liability insurer is untraceable.

However, during a Westminster Hall debate on the issue Labour MP Steve Rotheram spoke out for those sufferers who had already begun their claim, branding the decision “arbitrary”.

The MP for Liverpool Walton said: “Originally, payments of 80% of the average civil claims were to be made in respect of people first diagnosed on or after 25 July, 2012. The new guidance means that the uprating to 100% will include all those who are diagnosed from yesterday onwards, but exclude those who have already lodged their claims.”

Mr Rotheram asked: “The arbitrary nature of yesterday’s ruling caused great distress to another group, a small group of around 250 claimants who were already receiving payments from the scheme.

“So will the minister specifically comment on the unjust nature of this anomaly, created by (work and pensions minister) Lord Freud.”

He went on: “Instead of sticking to yesterday’s written statement the minister should stand up today and announce that he will backdate the increase to include victims who have successfully claimed at the lower 80% rate during the first eight months of the scheme.”

Mr Rotheram argued the number of claimants had not reached the “inflated figure that the insurance industry predicted in order to make the compensatory package look punitive,” adding it was a “whopping 70% smaller”.

Mr Rotheram said the Mesothelioma Act 2014 delivered the legislative framework for the scheme which provides a source of compensation for mesothelioma sufferers who could prove they had been negligently exposed to asbestos at work but who could not trace a relevant insurer. The scheme, he added, also makes payments to eligible dependants of mesothelioma victims who have died.