‘Miners must be protected’ says MP Jon Trickett

Hemsworth MP Jon Trickett warned a House of Commons debate that former miners with underlying health conditions were at risk from the virus and their families even stood a chance of losing out compensation if complications arose.

He said: “If tragedy occurs, it can be essential that their death certificate records both the impact of the virus on their final days but also the underlying condition. 

“Because it is possible that families would lose their justified compensation. 

“The miners and workers in similar heavy industries created the wealth of our country. We owe them.”

He also used his time in the debate call for better pay for key workers who have contributed hugely during the pandemic.

He said: “It is now quite clear that the ones upon whom we most depend – the nation’s heroes, its keyworkers – are the ones upon whom the austerity years leaned the heaviest. 

“It is the hard work and dedication, the sense of community and solidarity, the ethos of care and responsibility which has driven them to work each day in the face of considerable danger.

“Yet, the average key worker is paid less than other employees. It is evident that our country’s priorities therefore have been fundamentally wrong.

“It’s the delivery drivers, posties, the nurses, the shopkeepers, teachers, the lab technicians, the food retailers and the farmers, the bin men and the carers, the police officers and the doctors and all the others who hold our society together.”