My Lords, like my noble friend Lord Walton of Detchant, in my time as a Liverpool Member of Parliament I also came across shipyard workers from the River Mersey who, sadly, had contracted mesothelioma. I also saw tunnellers, masons and others who had come to surgeries to talk about what compensation schemes might be available.
I vividly recall meeting a man and his wife, and she came back to see me just weeks later when she was a widow, he having died. The rapidity with which people can die after prognosis is alarming, and of course it is a fatal disease. It is suspected that another 56,000 people will die of mesothelioma before this terrible curse is ended.
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In the mean time we have to do what we can to provide as much justice as we can, and the compensation schemes that are being put forward are a step in that direction. That is why at Second Reading so many of us applauded the fact that the Minister had brought the Bill forward. However, the Bill is not the last word on the subject. The points made by the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, in moving the amendment, and those made by the noble Lord, Lord James, about the Armed Forces and by the noble Lord, Lord Wills, are points that the Minister ought to take into account. He should be willing to look at this question again.
As long ago as 1965, the report that was issued by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on mesothelioma identified a particular case where someone’s dungarees had been washed by his wife when he had returned from work. She washed them day after day, and it was the dust from those clothes that had led him to bring mesothelioma into their home for her to contract.
The point is well made that this is about natural justice. If the Minister is unable to accept the amendments today, I hope that at least he will go away and reflect between now and Report, because I am sure that the noble Lord, Lord Howarth, and others will want to bring this back.