Laywers and campaigners are gearing up for a series of legal moves over Cold War troops’ missing medical records
Veterans will launch a series of legal battles against the government next year, unless Keir Starmer agrees to help them get to the bottom of the Nuked Blood Scandal.
Lawyers acting for survivors of Cold War nuclear bomb tests are preparing to formally issue a claim in the High Court.
They say that the Ministry of Defence has failed to answer questions on the whereabouts of blood tests conducted on thousands of troops during the weapons trials, despite months of legal letters.
And families who say that nuke veterans’ medical records are missing – either unlawfully destroyed or withheld – could make a criminal complaint to the police.
* Watch Britain’s Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story on iPlayer HERE
Veteran John Folkes, who flew through four atomic clouds in 1956 and later found 14 months of medical records from the time are missing, said: “I have one wish for next year. I just want them to say sorry.”
John, 88, of Broadstairs, Kent, was recently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress as a result of his experiences.
He said: “If somebody high up were to put their hands up and say sorry, that would help. It would give us a sense something is being done about it, a starting point. It’s been decades of waiting for the truth, and it’s time we got it.”
In Opposition, Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised veterans “your campaign is our campaign”, while Defence Secretary John Healey said there was “no good moral reason, no good military reason, for withholding the recognition and compensation… It is a pledge we are determined to deliver”.
Since taking office, the new Labour government has begun a review of what records were taken and what might have happened to them, but have not engaged with a compensation claim expected to top £5bn.
Lawyer Jason McCue, who is acting for the veterans, said: “If the government had exercised candour when the veterans first came forward, compensation would cost a fraction of what they now face.
“Today’s government has been given the grace of a final chance to do the right thing with a deadline of the end of this year, and establish a cost-effective special tribunal as an alternative. In the absence of any response, we will have no choice but to begin proceedings.”
Meanwhile Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has said he will go to the police to report crimes of misconduct in public office if the government does not act. He said: “This is crunch time, for the veterans and the government. The new year must bring justice for these families, by whatever means we can achieve it.”
The pivotal moment comes after an astonishing year in the Mirror ’s long campaign for recognition of the nuclear veterans.
In February a judge ruled the Ministry of Defence had unlawfully withheld medical records from a veteran’s daughter, and in May the Atomic Weapons Establishment was forced to declassify 4,000 pages of evidence about blood and urine testing of troops during the radiation experiments.
Almost a million people have seen a BBC documentary on the scandal, while more than 5,000 nuclear test medals have been delivered to veterans and their next of kin.
