ONE of Hampshire's worst pensions scandals was due to be put under the spotlight during a high-profile occasion in Parliament today.

David Chidgey, Liberal Democrat MP for Eastleigh, has secured a prized Westminster Hall debate on APW Electronics.

Hundreds of workers face losing 80 per cent of their pensions after the scheme was wound up in the High Court to keep the company - employing 285 people at Chandler's Ford - from going under. Staff expecting £20,000 a year could receive just £4,000. The crisis emerged when APW bosses revealed a £55m black hole in the pension fund.

Mr Chidgey, plus other MPs including Southampton Itchen's John Denham, will ask what action the government can take to prevent workers enduring a bleak retirement.

A member of the government, almost certain to be Pensions Minister Malcolm Wicks, will reply. Local MPs are expected to focus on two themes. Firstly, they will look at whether workers can qualify for reinstatement into the government's state pension. They will also ask whether ministers will allow APW to be retrospectively included in the new Financial Assistance Scheme.

APW victims are currently excluded from financial assistance because the company is not insolvent.

Mr Denham, a Labour backbencher, said: "The trustees were forced to agree to reduce the pensions to avoid the company being wound up and a raft of job losses.''

They didn't know at the time that they would have been entitled to assistance under the Financial Assistance Scheme.

Last year, New Forest East MP Julian Lewis accused APW of "blackmailing'' workers into accepting a massive reduction in pension on pain of the companygoing into liquidation. APW refuted that, saying Mr Lewis's suggestion was a "grave injustice'.

George Dunford, 65, has lost a £25,500 lump sum as a result of the fund's black hole and has seen a £7,000 annual pension slashed to just £800.

He said he hoped to see a show of support from MPs. "It could be an important step in building the pressure, if the MPs take any notice of us.

"If they don't help us, we are destitute."