The Prime Minister has indicated that there is to be a review of the law that denies compensation to former members of the armed forces for exposure to asbestos.
As things stand, the Ministry of Defence can be sued for death or personal injury except for events that ceased before 15 May 1987, the date when Parliament ended its previous total immunity. Ex-service personnel who have been exposed to asbestos can obtain a military disability pension but they cannot obtain the substantial compensation that a civilian could expect from a court action in equivalent circumstances.  
For court actions for personal injuries or death, there is a time limit of three years from the event that caused the injury. This limit can be overridden by the court but it will not exercise its discretion to do that if, for whatever reason, the proposed legal case has no real prospect of success. The combined effect has been to deny to ex-members of the Royal  Navy the legal remedy that they would have had if they had been civilians  doing  exactly the same work in a dockyard that was not under Royal Navy control.  The result is that a legal remedy has been denied to ex-Naval personnel just because they were in the armed forces at the time when they were exposed to asbestos.
If the steps announced do overturn this obstacle to justice, it might not become necessary to launch a challenge through the European Human Rights Convention, which bans discriminatory denial of a legal remedy based on possession of a particular status.