Nuclear test veterans' medical records missing, report due

A long-awaited report into the medical records of British nuclear test veterans is due to be published tomorrow, and Newsnight understands it will confirm that many of those records are missing. The development comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer cancelled a promised meeting with the veterans, instead sending the Veterans Minister, Calvin Bailey, to meet them on Monday.

The veterans, who were forced to witness atomic and hydrogen bomb tests in the 1940s and 1950s, have been fighting for decades to access their own medical records held by the Ministry of Defence. They believe the records would show whether the cancers and other serious health problems they and their children have suffered were caused by radiation exposure. The report, commissioned by the MOD, is expected to reveal that records have not been located and are in fact missing. In one case, 34 RAF medical records were destroyed inadvertently in 2023 due to a mix-up over dates of birth, and the MOD said it is likely that some of those belonged to nuclear test veterans.

Veterans and their families expressed deep disappointment at the Prime Minister's decision not to meet them. Alan Owen, co-founder of the Lab Rats campaign group and son of a veteran, said: "It's really disappointing that after months and months of work and his promise to John that he would meet with the veterans... to not meet with us, to almost downgrade us to a junior minister status." Steve Purse, also the son of a veteran and born with severe disabilities, said: "It was a promise made to us... we kept the faith with Keir Starmer. We kept believing that he would do the right thing. And that's, after all, what we're asking, is do the right thing, keep your promise, and meet us like you said you would."

Veteran Brian Unthank, who described the blinding white flash of the tests as a "living x-ray", said he expected the report to be "a total whitewash as usual". He added: "Each and every government from 1952 until now has totally, completely blanked us. We didn't exist really, although we went and did that dangerous job for them, for this country, we are nothing in their view."

In the House of Commons, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham raised the veterans' cause and called for a special tribunal to investigate, compensate and commemorate the victims. Burnham, who has previously described the treatment of the veterans as "a criminal cover-up on an industrial scale", said the House needed to hear their call. The new Defence Secretary, Dan Jarvis, paid strong tribute to the veterans and said he had heard Burnham's call and would want to work with him.

The MOD issued a statement saying: "We recognise the huge contribution that nuclear test veterans have made to national security. This Government is committed to working with veterans and listening to their concerns. Currently there is no definitive evidence that children of nuclear test veterans have an increased number of genetic mutations... compared to other people whose parents were not nuclear test veterans."

Veteran John Morris, who took 50 years to get his son's autopsy report, said the call for a tribunal was "a step in the right direction". He added: "A one-year tribunal will get the bones out into the open. It will give us a chance to justify our fight of the injustice that's gone on."