MINERS' campaigner Pat Daglish has revealed her ambition to stand for Parliament.

Ms Daglish, 45, from East Stanley, County Durham, has helped to spearhead the fight to speed up compensation payments for pitmen with lung disease.

Now her efforts, and the Government's handling of the compensation scandal, have led her to consider entering politics.

She intends to join the local Labour Party branch with a view to standing for election in the Durham North seat about to vacated by long serving MP Giles Radice.

Mr Radice is to stand down at the next election, having announced his retirement, although Ms Daglish's target would be to win a nomination for the election after that.

She has already won support from local Labour Party members.

Ms Daglish, whose father Thomas died as a result of working down the mines, told The Northern Echo: "I know I would have support from hundreds of people to stand.

"Being involved with the miners' campaign has made me more aware of things that need putting right.

"The Tories did not want to know about the miners, and even Tony Blair's government in the beginning handled the problem of compensation very badly."

Ms Daglish, who says one of her main priorities would be realistic rises in state pensions, has criticised reports that Labour could shortlist an outsider for Mr Radice's seat.

The seat was won by Labour with a 26,299 majority four years ago.

She said: "Politicians should mix with people and should genuinely care about them. They also need to live and be from the area that they are being elected in."

Alex Watson, Labour Party leader on Derwentside District Council, supported her stance on the miners, saying that the conditions many men worked in were not "fit for beasts, let alone humans".

No one from Mr Radice's constituency office was available for comment last night