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Petition delivery marks campaign climax

The South Wales Argus’ 25,000-name Justice for Miners petition has been delivered to the House of Commons.

MPs heard the Argus’ appeal for immediate compensation payments to sick and dying ex-miners at a special Commons sitting.

This landmark event in the Argus campaign for justice came as energy minister Peter Hain announced that 440 priority cases in Wales will be tested and paid within 18 weeks.

Mr Hain, who received the petition with Welsh secretary Paul Murphy after the Commons sitting, told the Argus he would ensure that every person who had signed would receive a letter updating them on progress made.

Prime minister Tony Blair wrote an exclusive article for the Argus,congratulating the paper on its campaign, saying: “I want you to keep up the pressure on us.”

Mr Blair wrote: “As the Argus rightly has said, these people desperately need the help that this money can give them now.”

He said the government was “working flat out to find ways of removingbottlenecks and barriers to the speedy payment of compensation.”

Argus editor Gerry Keighley said: “This was a landmark occasion, but it does not represent victory or the end of our campaign. That will only come when every former miner, and every widow of a former miner, have the compensation due to them for the dreadful chest diseases that have so blighted their lives.

“We were delighted our petition was heard in the Commons. We felt the 25,000 people who signed it deserved more recognition that just seeing it handed in to 10 Downing Street.”

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