LABOUR party bosses turned down proposals by MPs and AMs from the Valleys to set a deadline for miners' compensation payouts.

Valleys First, a new grouping of Labour politicians which was launched last week, intended to set a March 1, 2003 deadline for all payments to be made.

But the Argus has learned that the group had to water down its commitment because the government feared it could not be met.

The Argus has been campaigning to speed up compensation payments to ex-miners suffering diseases linked to coal dust, or their widows, for over two years.

The final launch document committed them instead to "the urgent settlement of all outstanding current claims for compensation, with priority given to the most serious cases" - a position much closer to the government's official line.

Merthyr AM Huw Lewis, one of the key figures in the new group, said he was unaware of the earlier draft of the group's ten-point Charter for the Valleys when asked by the Argus. The charter has the miners' payout issue as one of their top priorities, reflecting its high profile with constituents, many of whom are sufferers.

A senior Labour party source said that they were reluctant to set a target date because so many factors were outside their control.

But Bleddyn Hancock (pictured), general secretary of mining union Nacods South Wales, said: "This sounds like a humiliating slapdown by their masters in London. It will take at least two years at the rate promised by the energy minister to do the existing claims. No wonder they rejected the March 1 target."

Energy Minister Brian Wilson has promised 15,000 offers in Wales by the end of 2002, and IRISC confirmed earlier this week they will be making 350 offers a week.

With the current backlog of applicants standing at around 33,000, it could take around 94 weeks - until October 2003 - to tackle the load - and with applications still coming in every week, possibly longer.

Members of the Valleys First group were persuaded not to set a limit for fear it would be used as a stick to beat them with by their opponents in the run-up to the 2003 Assembly elections.

Labour AMs and MPs have been unhappy about the criticism they have received from opponents - particularly in Plaid Cymru - over their handling of the miners' compensation issue.