Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman has hit out at global petrochemical giant BP in a debate on the "time bomb" of asbestos in schools.

Mr Sheerman told the Commons how his brother Bob died of lung condition mesothelioma and claimed his employers BP did everything possible to keep the compensation payout as low as possible.

He accused the multinational oil and gas company for prioritising compensation in the wake of high profile disasters such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico over damages for its own employees.

Mr Sheerman said: “There have been so many injustices in this area. My own brother Bob died of this condition. He worked for BP for many years, all his life he worked for BP.

"Actually, when he was told that he had this, BP worked as hard as they could to give as little as possible.

"I feel very strongly about this and support your amendments absolutely, also because many people in the asbestos industry worked in West Yorkshire."

Mrr Sheerman was speaking in a debate in which Labour MPs and a handful of Tory rebels called on ministers to support their amendment to change the Mesothelioma Bill and extend a levy on the insurance industry to pay for research into the deadly disease and its causes.

Calder Valley MP Craig Whittaker was one of the Tories who supported the amendment.

Jim Sheridan, MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, said 75% of the UK's secondary schools were contaminated by the deadly fibre, which causes the fatal lung cancer mesothelioma.

He said the disease, which to date has affected thousands of working-class ship workers, could soon start cropping up amongst teachers and schoolchildren exposed to asbestos in the classroom.

Asbestos has been used to insulate buildings and as lagging for pipes, as well as in ship building.

Its tiny fibres cause a fatal cancer called mesothelioma, from which sufferers die often before they can track down their former employers' insurers and successfully claim compensation.

The amendment, which had initially been tabled by Labour MP Paul Goggins (Wythenshawe and Sale East), who is seriously ill in hospital, was defeated by 266 votes to 226, a reduced Government majority of 40.