Plans to give former miners and their families a cash boost worth almost £1,000 a year were among the policies backed at the Labour Party’s annual conference.

Earlier this year the Government was accused of “contempt” for ex-colliery workers after it rejected calls to return cash it has taken out of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme (MPS).

But at the gathering in Brighton, party members endorsed proposals which could see weekly payouts increased, if the Tories can be forced out of power at the next general election.

“This isn’t radical,” Sam Rushworth, vice-chair of Bishop Auckland Labour Party, told delegates, “it’s simply returning £1.2bn back to the retired miners who earned it – and their widows and children.

“This will see an uplift of, on average, £770 per year for every pensioner, money they’d be spending in their communities or using to support children or grandchildren to have the opportunities everybody deserves, but too many lack.”

An overhaul of the MPS in 1994 saw the Government promise to ensure payouts would not fall in cash terms, but only in exchange for 50% of any surpluses generated by the fund.

Since then, ministers have been able to take a combined total of £4.4bn.

Earlier this year, MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee urged the Government to right an “historic injustice” by transferring £1.2bn back to the fund.

If approved, this could have given a £14 top up to an ex-miner’s current weekly pension of £84.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, MP for Northumberland’s Berwick constituency and then business minister, rejected the appeal, calling the 1994 deal “fair and beneficial to both scheme members and taxpayers”.

Rushworth, who seconded the motion to conference, said he hoped it would be the “first win of many”.