The government has been urged to publish 370 documents about blood testing of troops during nuclear weapons trials, after the Mirror uncovered evidence Parliament was misled
MP demands government publish hidden documents discovered by Mirror
Keir Starmer’s government is under pressure to urgently release a cache of top secret documents about radiation experiments conducted on troops during Cold War bomb tests.
The Mirror revealed at the weekend that, although Parliament had been told there were 150 such documents in a classified archive at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, there were at least 370 files about blood and urine testing on servicemen who were exposed to radiation – and hundreds of them have never been made public.
South Holland and the Deepings MP Sir John Hayes told the House of Commons that when a Tory defence minister first reviewed and published some of the records in May last year, “he said at that time there were 150”.
He added: “It has now become clear from correspondence in a court case brought by nuclear test veterans there are 370 documents mentioning blood and urine, including 265 previously unseen and unreleased.
“This raises the possibility, Madam Deputy Speaker, as you will appreciate, that the AWE misled ministers about the number of records, and then inadvertently and entirely innocently, the minister brought the wrong information to this house.
“I seek your guidance on how the government can both correct the record, but also publish those extra records. The nuclear test veterans deserve nothing less.”
Deputy Speaker Nusrat Ghani told him: “No doubt the Treasury benches are taking note and listening.” It has raised hopes of further disclosures that could substantiate veterans’ long-made claims to have been “lab rats” at more than 600 weapons tests between 1952 and 1967.
The Ministry of Defence claimed last week that the files were missed because they were tagged in the AWE computer system with the word ‘pathology’ instead of the word ‘blood’.
The issue is complicating an internal inquiry into the Nuked Blood Scandal announced by Defence Secretary John Healey last year, and led by Veterans Minister Al Carns.
The minister asked for six months to investigate, but told Parliament this week the task was “gargantuan” with “70, 80 years of files that are Yellow Pages-thick, in aircraft hangars all over the UK”. It has had to be expanded with the revelation that the AWE held further records.
Campaigners are due to meet with Office of Veterans’ Affairs later this month for an update on the review, and have urged Mr Carns to urgently declassify the database which has been found to hold thousands of pages of information about medical tests on troops behind claims of national security.