The UK nuclear weapon tests in Australia and the South Pacific involved around 20,000 servicemen (Picture: Alamy)

Veterans

Cold War nuclear test veterans give cautious welcome to suggestion of legal action

Nuclear test veterans have given a guarded response to the suggestion that criminal sanctions could be brought against the people who exposed them to radiation during the Cold War bomb trials.

Veterans and their families say their health has been harmed as a result of the tests that took place in the 1950s and 1960s.

They are calling for a special tribunal to investigate their allegations and to compensate them accordingly.

Some of the claimants say they have cancer, blood disorders and lost children as a result of the nuclear weapons tests.

According to the MOD, more than 20,000 military personnel were present at the UK nuclear weapon tests between 1952 and 1967 in Australia and the South Pacific.

Hillsborough Law

At the Labour Party conference in September, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer discussed the bill to bring in the Hillsborough Law, which requires a duty of candour on public officials.

Sir Keir said this was also a law for "all the countless injustices over the years suffered by working people at the hands of those who were supposed to serve them".

In Parliament, Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck asked Cabinet Office Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds whether the "duty of candour in Hillsborough Law will apply to the 70-year-long nuclear test veteran scandal".

He replied: "We are looking to introduce a very broad duty of candour, a general duty of candour.

"I should also point out that criminal sanctions are going to be really important to punish the most egregious breaches.

"And I'm pleased to confirm to the House today, as the Prime Minister announced in September, that the bill we will bring forward will include criminal sanctions."

Veterans now receive a medal acknowledging their role, but for those who say their health was adversely affected, this is not enough — Veterans now receive a medal acknowledging what they did, but for those who say their health was adversely affected, this is not enough

In March, veterans and their next of kin called for a special tribunal following attempts to gain access to medical records.

They said blood and urine samples that were taken at the Cold War weapons trials had been reclassified as "scientific data" and placed at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, an agency of the MOD, which means they cannot be accessed.

The MOD had previously said "no information is withheld from veterans".

Hillsborough Law legislation is expected to be introduced to Parliament before the next anniversary of the 1989 football stadium disaster in April.

Labrats respond

A spokesman for Labrats International, which represents test veterans, said: "After many years of denial, the veterans have proof that thousands of blood tests of troops at the nuclear weapons tests were ordered, conducted and recorded, yet today are missing from their files.

"Current and former staff of the Atomic Weapons Establishment and Ministry of Defence covered up these blood tests behind claims of national security, and veterans have enough evidence to go to the police and to issue civil claims in the High Court.

"We are no longer talking about injury from radiation, but injuries inflicted by our government.

"The Hillsborough Law is a massive step forward, but it will not be on the statute books in time for many of our surviving veterans.

"The MOD has ignored deadlines and been told in no uncertain terms that unless there is movement in the next few weeks and months, veterans will take legal advice about the swiftest means of delivering justice in what is now the longest-running scandal in British history."