SO THERE we have it. The Law Society has spoken. In respect of the British Coal Miners’ Compensation debacle, Janet Paraskeva, chief executive of the Law Society of England and Wales, has complained that “some people have taken the opportunity to pursue a campaign against solicitors, unfairly raising the expectations of miners and their families and creating unnecessary problems for solicitors and firms”. Since Lord Mason of Barnsley, the former Cabinet Minister, dubbed me the “miners’ champion”, I am qualified to respond.

In l939, as a lad of 14, I started work underground at Featherstone Colliery, Yorkshire. As a miner and in turn Member of Parliament, I witnessed first-hand the severe disability resulting from chronic bronchitis and emphysema (CBE). Between 1982 and l989, I presented five Ten-Minute Rule Bills in Parliament, trying to get CBE prescribed as industrial diseases. Such Bills were on a first-come, first-served basis and each time I spent an uncomfortable night sleeping in a parliamentary corridor to ensure that I was first in the queue. I also presented evidence to the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC).

In l992, I had a breakthrough when someone disclosed a memorandum between two government departments. It revealed that while the IIAC had recommended to the Conservative Government that CBE be prescribed as industrial diseases, the departments had suggested that implementation be delayed as long as possible, since the more miners who died, the greater the financial savings. I was outraged and prepared to resign as Deputy Speaker. An urgent meeting was arranged with John Major, then Prime Minister, who assured me that he would immediately implement the IIAC’s recommendation. The legislation prescribing CBE as industrial diseases under statute came into force in l993. That milestone led to the British Coal Respiratory Disease Litigation, the world’s largest class action, with judgment given in 1998 for the miners.

During the ensuing eight years, I repeatedly challenged the lack of progress. Recently, I put down several dozen written questions in the House of Lords. With each successive written answer on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry, my misgivings grew. It is admitted that in respect of the respiratory litigation, more than £655 million had been paid to the miners’ solicitors. It is estimated that the remaining claims will not be settled until 2009, with a further estimated £1,196 million being paid to lawyers.

I was appalled that some of those lawyers had been taking success and administration fees from compensation. I realised that the Law Society’s claim to be “cracking down hard on miners’ solicitors” was pure spin. I learnt that not one solicitor had appeared before the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal on the British Coal cases. Indeed, I found out that in the late l990s, the Law Society encouraged double-charging, stating that success and administration fees were part of the “business-like attitude” that solicitors had to adopt.

What had the lawyers done to deserve their hundreds of millions of pounds? Through further questions in the Lords, I was shocked to find that 165,994 retired miners or widows had received under £2,000 in compensation, less than the average sum paid to their lawyers. However, nothing prepared me for the admission that 3,949 miners had received under £99. Even though those miners were getting next to nothing, their lawyers still reaped substantial fees. Furthermore,

15,434 of claimants under both schemes have died without receiving compensation. How can that be justified when the DTI has already spent £1,075 million in overheads on the respiratory scheme alone? This is a dreadful state of affairs. Nevertheless, I was encouraged to find that in her special report on the miners’ cases, Zahida Manzoor, the Legal Services Ombudsman, was robust in her criticism of lawyers and the Law Society. However, I was dismayed by the Law Society’s arrogant response. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue. The miners asked for nothing more than fair compensation for the CBE resulting from years of coal dust in their lungs. They were entitled to just compensation, speedily delivered. Instead, many received a pittance, while others must wait until 2009 to be paid. That will be a full 11 years after the High Court judgment of 1998. That cannot be right.

The miners trusted their lawyers but many found themselves fleeced by double-charging. In respect of the Law Society’s actions, it is a case of too little, too late. I have therefore put down a parliamentary motion, to debate the conduct of lawyers and the Law Society. I believe that on these facts the Law Society chief executive would be well advised to put her own house in order before attacking those who seek to help the miners. If, by advising the elderly and infirm that they were entitled to fair compensation and protection from greedy solicitors, I was “unfairly raising the expectations of miners and their families”, then it is my privilege to plead guilty. If, along the way, I have been “creating unnecessary problems for solicitors and firms”, then such misfortune is of their own making.







The author is a Life Peer and the former Labour MP for Pontefract and Deputy Speaker in the House of Commons

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