Tory leader David Cameron yesterday made an impassioned plea for urgent action to help an Oxfordshire man and thousands of others who have lost their pensions.

The Witney MP told a packed House of Commons that 67-year-old John Brooks paid into his occupational pension for 40 years, but lost it all when his employer, Early's of Witney, went bust.

The Government had agreed to pay Mr Brooks and others like him 80 per cent of the value of their pensions under the Financial Assistance Scheme but so far he had not received a penny.

Mr Cameron said leukaemia-sufferer Mr Brooks was in "desperate need of money" and urged Tony Blair to speed up payments.

He asked: "Given that the Government has said he's going to get 80 per cent of his money anyway, why not use a Treasury loan and start the payments now?"

Mr Blair, speaking during Prime Minister's Questions, said he was "totally sympathetic" to Mr Brooks but rejected the proposal as it would have uncosted "financial consequences".

The Prime Minister told MPs: "What I won't do is say to your constituent or any others that I can promise something unless I'm sure we can actually deliver within the financial means that the Government has."

Mr Brooks, who lives in Witney with his wife Rosemary, told the Oxford Mail the collapse of Early's had cost him £140 a week but administrators and the Government were still arguing over the amount he should be paid.