Lord Hunt of Wirral is President of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health.
In the 1970s, around the time I first came into Parliament as MP for Wirral, I was a solicitor to the Transport and General Workers’ Union. I took on a series of claims, mainly for dockers, and also a major case on thalidomide . During my time as Secretary of State for Employment between 1993 and 1994, the Major Government became the first in history to commit itself to full employment – not through massive state intervention, but through balanced fiscal and monetary policies and a flexible labour market.
My door was always open to the then General Secretary of the TUC, John Monks (now a colleague in the House of Lords) and I was delighted to attend the retirement party of my good friend Albert Blyghton, when he came to the end of his time as Head of Legal at the T&G. Trade union rights, health and safety (of the proportionate, not “gone mad”, variety), full employment – for me, these important matters have always belonged outside the cut-and-thrust of party politics, and matter for all of us.
In contrast, all too often, we Conservatives allow ourselves to be portrayed as partisan enemies of ordinary people, a mere blink away from sending children back up chimneys. It isn’t true and it’s vital we keep on saying so and proving so by campaigning for decent standards of living and safety for all our fellow citizens. How we deal with the continuing, malignant threat of asbestos, is a clear indication of what kind of party we are.
For the last two years we have all been concerned with the risk of breathing in an invisible substance that can make us ill, and what measures we can take to avoid it. There is another invisible, toxic substance, arguably far more dangerous and pervasive, which has been part of our lives for far longer – and to which we also need to prevent exposure. Breathing in air containing asbestos fibres can cause cancer and many other diseases of the lungs and chest, but its lethal effects may not show up for years. It is still the single biggest work-related killer.
A new piece of research now reveals most local authority buildings are riddled with asbestos, causing risk of disease and early death to hundreds of thousands of people. The report, sponsored by the APPG on Occupational Safety and Health and the Trades Union Congress, details how the carcinogen is still contained in thousands of town halls, leisure centres, and libraries, as well as in housing stock and schools.
There is a significant danger: Britain already has the highest rates of mesothelioma (the asbestos-causing cancer) in the world. Breathing in fibres can cause irreversible damage to the lungs years down the line, and the brutal reality is, this cancer is a death sentence: there is no cure.
The Department for Work and Pensions Select Committee recently called an inquiry into the approach of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) approach to asbestos management. Crucially, its report called for a new legal duty to remove the substance from public buildings, with a 40-year target. I hope the Government will choose to adopt the recommendation, perhaps as part of its levelling-up policy.
A programme for asbestos removal would complement many of the government’s existing initiatives. We are already prioritising billions into the retrofitting of homes, millions towards upgrading schools, and establishing the Building Safety Regulator to drive up standards and protect people. All this and more can tie in with a plan of safe removal of asbestos, providing jobs for an expert workforce all the while.
It makes financial sense too. Only weeks ago it was revealed that one council is paying out a hefty sum after a worker died from exposure to asbestos in its town hall. In addition, the government spends millions of pounds each year in rightly compensating those for whom this terrible illness has cut short their life or that of a loved one. That is on top of paying out disablement benefit to hundreds of thousands of claimants. This is not a problem of the past: diagnoses and deaths are on the rise. There were nearly four times as many asbestos-related deaths in the latest decade compared with the 1980s.
It also makes political sense. According to statistics from the HSE, rates of asbestos cancer are highest in the South East and in working-class Northern areas. Those who might never have voted Conservative in the 1980s (when we began to introduce restrictions on asbestos) have been switching allegiance. Indeed, so-called “Red Wall” seats such as Barrow-in-Furness, where asbestos rates are the highest in the country, changed hands in 2019.
This is everyone’s problem, including ours. Part of our offer for the future must include adequate support for the growing number of asbestos victims. It must also include a commitment to remove this dangerous substance, to protect our future generations, once and for all.
Lord Hunt of Wirral is President of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health.
In the 1970s, around the time I first came into Parliament as MP for Wirral, I was a solicitor to the Transport and General Workers’ Union. I took on a series of claims, mainly for dockers, and also a major case on thalidomide . During my time as Secretary of State for Employment between 1993 and 1994, the Major Government became the first in history to commit itself to full employment – not through massive state intervention, but through balanced fiscal and monetary policies and a flexible labour market.
My door was always open to the then General Secretary of the TUC, John Monks (now a colleague in the House of Lords) and I was delighted to attend the retirement party of my good friend Albert Blyghton, when he came to the end of his time as Head of Legal at the T&G. Trade union rights, health and safety (of the proportionate, not “gone mad”, variety), full employment – for me, these important matters have always belonged outside the cut-and-thrust of party politics, and matter for all of us.
In contrast, all too often, we Conservatives allow ourselves to be portrayed as partisan enemies of ordinary people, a mere blink away from sending children back up chimneys. It isn’t true and it’s vital we keep on saying so and proving so by campaigning for decent standards of living and safety for all our fellow citizens. How we deal with the continuing, malignant threat of asbestos, is a clear indication of what kind of party we are.
For the last two years we have all been concerned with the risk of breathing in an invisible substance that can make us ill, and what measures we can take to avoid it. There is another invisible, toxic substance, arguably far more dangerous and pervasive, which has been part of our lives for far longer – and to which we also need to prevent exposure. Breathing in air containing asbestos fibres can cause cancer and many other diseases of the lungs and chest, but its lethal effects may not show up for years. It is still the single biggest work-related killer.
A new piece of research now reveals most local authority buildings are riddled with asbestos, causing risk of disease and early death to hundreds of thousands of people. The report, sponsored by the APPG on Occupational Safety and Health and the Trades Union Congress, details how the carcinogen is still contained in thousands of town halls, leisure centres, and libraries, as well as in housing stock and schools.
There is a significant danger: Britain already has the highest rates of mesothelioma (the asbestos-causing cancer) in the world. Breathing in fibres can cause irreversible damage to the lungs years down the line, and the brutal reality is, this cancer is a death sentence: there is no cure.
The Department for Work and Pensions Select Committee recently called an inquiry into the approach of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) approach to asbestos management. Crucially, its report called for a new legal duty to remove the substance from public buildings, with a 40-year target. I hope the Government will choose to adopt the recommendation, perhaps as part of its levelling-up policy.
A programme for asbestos removal would complement many of the government’s existing initiatives. We are already prioritising billions into the retrofitting of homes, millions towards upgrading schools, and establishing the Building Safety Regulator to drive up standards and protect people. All this and more can tie in with a plan of safe removal of asbestos, providing jobs for an expert workforce all the while.
It makes financial sense too. Only weeks ago it was revealed that one council is paying out a hefty sum after a worker died from exposure to asbestos in its town hall. In addition, the government spends millions of pounds each year in rightly compensating those for whom this terrible illness has cut short their life or that of a loved one. That is on top of paying out disablement benefit to hundreds of thousands of claimants. This is not a problem of the past: diagnoses and deaths are on the rise. There were nearly four times as many asbestos-related deaths in the latest decade compared with the 1980s.
It also makes political sense. According to statistics from the HSE, rates of asbestos cancer are highest in the South East and in working-class Northern areas. Those who might never have voted Conservative in the 1980s (when we began to introduce restrictions on asbestos) have been switching allegiance. Indeed, so-called “Red Wall” seats such as Barrow-in-Furness, where asbestos rates are the highest in the country, changed hands in 2019.
This is everyone’s problem, including ours. Part of our offer for the future must include adequate support for the growing number of asbestos victims. It must also include a commitment to remove this dangerous substance, to protect our future generations, once and for all.