THE battle to claw back The Christie's lost £6.5m took to the streets - as ministers confirmed they will consider whether the hospital should be compensated. Take part in our online petition here .

Yesterday the M.E.N. revealed that a powerful body of MPs from all parties have recommended charities should get cash back that disappeared in the Icelandic banking crash.

But MPs on the Treasury select committee said local authorities who lost money shouldn't be bailed out.

The recommendations were confirmed as Christie campaigners took to the streets of Manchester to add more signatures to a petition calling on the government to step in.

A spokesman for the Treasury, which will make the final decision in the next two months, said they would 'consider the select committee's report carefully and respond in due course'.

A spokeswoman for The Christie said: "This is a positive step forward, but until we are assured that the findings of the report have been accepted and acted on by the Treasury we will continue with all our efforts to have our funds returned.

"We would like to remind everyone that this money was in a UK-regulated bank and has been tirelessly raised by our generous fundraisers for years."

John McFall, chairman of the Treasury select committee, said: "The committee came to the unanimous conclusion that it is only possible on this occasion to compensate charities and this is what we have recommended.

"The work undertaken by the charitable sector often provides the most vulnerable elements of society with invaluable support. At a time when more people than ever are faced with difficult economic circumstances, we believe that it is imperative that charities have access to the funds that were provided to them by the public."

Gordon Brown, who has spent billions bailing out British banks, has expressed sympathy with The Christie but warned the 'central issue' was that the money was invested in another country.

The Withington cancer hospital lost the cash when the bank Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander went bust.

The bank had the highest possible security rating at the time the money was invested. It was earmarked for new satellite radiotherapy centres in Salford and Oldham, which are still going ahead despite the loss of the cash.

Christie bosses tried to get the money back through the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which is aimed at protecting individual investors.

They argued the victims were individual people who had donated to the charity fund. But the FSCS said the hospital didn't fit the criteria.

More than 30,000 people, including MPs, have signed an M.E.N. petition calling for the cash to be refunded.