SOLICITORS and trade unions - not the Government - must pay the fees of ex-miners seeking justice for injuries suffered above ground, MPs were told yesterday.

A fresh bid to include surface mineworkers within the Government's £4bn compensation scheme was rejected by energy minister Malcolm Wicks.

The minister denied a six-year-old document, unearthed by Durham North MP Kevan Jones, meant the Government was legally required to compensate surface workers.

Instead, Mr Wicks insisted the scientific evidence was that the incidence of disability from dust breathed in above ground was very small.

And he pointed to the huge payouts enjoyed by solicitors' firms - more than £50m in some cases - from the compensation scheme, as well as the money received by trade unions.

He said the clear way forward was for ex-surface workers to seek compensation in the courts - with the unions having a moral duty to fund the cases.

Mr Wicks said: "It is not easy for the Government to pay out compensation on political or moral grounds without any clear liability.

"There must be thousands of former workers in many different industries in this country who could argue a moral case, where there is no evidence."

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is on course to pay out £4bn in compensation to sick ex-pitmen who suffered crippling conditions such as bronchitis, emphysema and vibration white finger.

On Monday, The Northern Echo revealed the case of 83-year-old Jack Dobson, of Stanley, County Durham, a blacksmith at the Morrison Busty pit, in Annfield Plain, for 30 years from the age of 16.

He suffers from emphysema and chronic bronchitis, cannot walk long distances and needs three inhalers to breathe, but has received no compensation because he worked on the surface.

Mr Wicks' comments came after Mr Jones used a Commons debate to reveal the content of a DTI internal minute, written in July 2000.

It said: "Exposure to dust on the surface leads to the same lung diseases as dust underground" - which, Mr Jones said, was a clear acceptance of liability.

He added: "These former surface workers, through no fault of their own, have had their lives curtailed or their retirement ruined."

Speaking after the debate, Mr Jones expressed disappointment that the Government had failed to accept its responsibility for surface workers, estimated to number just 5,000 nationwide.

But he said it was a chink of light that Mr Wicks had stated it did not deny liability - just that it would not pay out compensation under the existing scheme.