🚨Andy Burnham’s Nuclear Test

Veterans of Britain's Cold War nuclear weapons tests are calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to honour his promise to end the nuclear test veteran scandal. This is what the Prime Minister told BBC Newsnight about the scandal in 2025. This is, like infected blood, a criminal cover-up on an industrial scale and only Parliament can overturn it. If you're not yet familiar with There was a white flash. We saw this huge ball of burning flame and underneath it was this white tail following it up. There was a big thick black line hurtling toward us and it hit us. Between 1952 and 1967 an estimated 22,000 UK troops were involved in 45 nuclear weapons tests and nearly 600 radioactive experiments in America, Australia and the South Pacific. What they were subjected to will shock you. We were taken to a beach that told us by tanai to sit with our backs to the sea. Draw your knees up, put your hands over your eyes. That is the sum total of my instructions. Minus 40 seconds, close eyes, close eyes. There was a boat, 2,000 of us. People worked out the navigation. We were nine miles away from two air bombs. All we had were a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Today less than 2,000, most in their 80s and with chronic health problems still survive. They report high rates of cancer, blood disease, birth defects, miscarriage and infant mortality. The flash was so bright I could see through my eyes. You saw all the bones, tendons, everything through your hands. Medical records detailing blood and urine tests taken to assess what impact these tests might be having on the troops' bodies are mysteriously missing. I know for a fact that I had urine and blood samples taken. They are not recorded, but the M.O.D. suggests they were never taken. If the state was conducting medical tests upon servicemen and not informing them when they found serious irregularity, that is at the very least misconduct in public office. A more serious, perhaps, gross negligence manslaughter in respect to people who died as a result. On behalf of the nuclear test veterans, I am extremely disappointed that for several years, no, in fact decades, successive governments have let down those veterans. Despite always denying it held information about blood testing, the Atomic Weapons Establishment has now been forced to declassify a top secret database, which contained thousands of pages of information about the programme. And documentary evidence has been uncovered that atomic scientists took blood tests from the servicemen as part of a monitoring programme. And sometimes, by the way, information has been put into the public domain, which later it has transpired is not correct. And that's why the level of trust has been eroded amongst those veterans. The failure to provide these records is unlawful and may even constitute a criminal offence. Hiding this kind of information behind national security exemptions could also lead to prosecutions for misconduct in public office, an offence which carries a maximum life sentence. Labour's position on the scandal whilst in opposition could not have been clearer. Listen to Chancellor John Healey, then Shadow Defence Secretary, speaking directly to nuclear test veterans in 2022. But the UK remains the only nuclear test country in which there is no scheme at all for compensation and recognition. So that's why, on behalf of the British Labour Party, I've said to our veterans, your campaign is our campaign. And this is what Housing Secretary, then Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner, told the veterans that same year. Myself and my Labour colleagues are calling on the Secretary of State for Defence to undertake the following actions. Liaise with the Treasury to set up an appropriate financial compensation programme for veterans and their descendants, as America, France, Australia, China, Russia, Fiji and the Isle of Man have done. This is not only one of the greatest injustices of our time, it's also become one of the worst cover-ups in British history. Listen to former Veterans Minister Tobias Elwood speaking to BBC Newsnight. So I'm standing up in Parliament in 2018. As Veterans Minister. Ask the question to say, did AWD, the Atomic Weapons Establishment, conduct any tests and are there any records available? And I said, no, nothing to see here. And I now realise that was a complete lie. It was misleading the veterans, it was misleading Parliament. That was the information, that was the line I had to take. And it's not just me, it goes back to all the Veterans Ministers over the last couple of decades. So you lied to veterans and the country in Parliament? Well, I presented the line to take. So to say I lied, I think it distorts what we're talking about here. This was the MOD's position. And you lean on the MOD for the positions that we then give out in Parliament. Did they lie to you? So what happened is, as I explained, is that they had this information, they deliberately withheld it. So did they lie to you? You can call it that if you like. What would you call it? Well, certainly it was misleading. It's not for me to make these judgments. The question now, what should happen to this, as I say, this is all unresolved, is for an independent tribunal to determine exactly what happened. Why it is that the MOD, rather than helping veterans provide the information, closed ranks and said nothing to see here, and then told ministers such as me, actually we haven't got that information and we're not willing to help the veterans. This scandal has not only left thousands of people to experience higher rates of disease, but uniquely among these veterans, the consequences of serving your country has been passed on to wives and children. Just think about that. So you were given lines to deliver and you duly delivered them. When you reflect on your own role as veterans minister, did you question officials enough? Did you show enough curiosity? Well, you do ask these questions. Did you? Yes, I did. I said, this doesn't feel right. And the tentative answer I got to say, well, we don't have the information. And anyway, it would cost a lot of money. So there was a treasury angle involved. We owe our nuclear test veterans and their families a huge debt of honour and gratitude. But instead, successive governments have stonewalled them and subjected them to decades of maltreatment and injustice. And time is not on their side. The veterans are now calling on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to honour his promise to end the nuclear test veteran scandal by establishing a truth, justice and legacy special tribunal for nuclear testing veterans. And here's how you can help. Sign the petition backing their call. You'll find a link with this film. It only takes a moment. Let's stand with the veterans we owe so much and together make sure they finally get the justice we all know they deserve.