'It is a scandal nuclear test veterans are denied medical records and compensation' - Emma Lewell-Buck, MP

I asked the Prime Minister if he would support the creation of a special tribunal with statutory powers to deliver justice and transparency for them because time is not on their side; a public inquiry would take too long.

I was offered a meeting with the veterans’ minister, which I am pursuing along with campaigners.

But the central issue remains they must have access to their medical records.

For decades veterans were told that the medical records they were asking for didn’t exist, and this was still the MoDs stance in 2018.

But after a long running campaign from the The Daily Mirror in 2022 they admitted that these veterans had been tested before, during and after exposure to nuclear tests, so where are these records?

It is unacceptable that the UK remains the only nuclear power to maintain their bomb tests caused no harm. The US, New Zealand, France, Australia and Canada have all compensated their nuclear veterans in some way.

Especially when the veterans and their families know all too painfully well of the rare cancers, high rates of miscarriage and birth defects in children they have suffered.

I was immensely proud last year to present my constituent Jack Taylor with his medal, a medal that the nuclear veterans had been fighting for decades.

Jack was in Maralanga exposed to nuclear weapons testing during the 1950s and ’60s with no protection.

With humility befitting those who have given their service for this country, Jack has said that he wants justice for all test veterans, not just himself.People are rightly fed-up of state and institutional cover-ups, Hillsborough, Orgreave, Post Office, Infected Blood, if we are to ever restore faith in politics and our institutions the nuked blood scandal needs to be addressed.

With Parliament returning in early September, I will continue to press for justice.