MPs have approved plans to speed up payments for victims of mesothelioma – a cancer which can follow exposure to asbestos by 25 to 40 years.

Currently only those who contracted the disease from exposure to asbestos at work are eligible to claim a lump sum from the state.

Now, up-front financial support will be extended to those who contracted the disease because they lived near a factory using asbestos or who were exposed to asbestos fibres through washing a relative's overalls.

The self-employed and those who can't trace their exposure to asbestos will also be covered.

Mesothelioma sufferers only survive on average nine months after diagnosis and many die before they receive any compensation.

Work and pensions minister Anne McGuire told a Commons committee debating the scheme: "It's about recognising that people in this situation may not have a long life and we need to get payments to them as quickly as possible and then we can sort out the details afterwards."

Leeds West MP John Battle has fought a long-running campaign for compensation on behalf of hundreds of constituents affected by activities of a local asbestos factory.

The JW Roberts factory at Armley continued to claim lives almost 50 years after its closure.

A landmark court ruling in 1996 meant mesothelioma sufferers who contracted the disease from neighbourhood pollution could claim from the firm responsible.

However, the payouts in Leeds were bogged down by a decade of legal disputes and some payouts have still not been made.

Mr Battle believes there could be a "significant" number of Armley claims under the Government's new fast-track scheme, although these will almost certainly be from relatives of mesothelioma victims.

Mr Battle said: "I'm grateful to the Government for stepping into the breach to ensure they get something.

"That factory blew the dust out of a vent onto the streets and into the homes and into the school playgrounds of the whole neighbourhood."

The scheme will cost £6m a year for the first two years but Government lawyers will claw the cost back from the companies responsible. It is likely to compensate around 600 people a year.

Payments will be made to sufferers and dependents of victims on a sliding scale, with the average payout around £10,000.

Last year a Law Lords judgement ruled that sufferers of pleural plaques, another asbestos-linked lung ailment, were no longer entitled to compensation.

The Yorkshire Evening Post is supporting the construction trade union UCATT in demanding the decision be reversed.