MOD MUST FINALLY REALISE ITS MORAL RESPONSIBILITY TO NUCLEAR TEST VETERANS - HARVEY
June 5, 2009 12:26 PM
Nuclear tests in the Pacific
The High Court announced a victory for Britain's nuclear test veterans today enabling them to sue the MoD for compensation. Liberal Democrat Shadow Defence Secretary and local MP Nick Harvey, who has long been campaigning in support of justice for the nuclear test veterans said:
"It is great news that Britain's nuclear test veterans have at last won their right to be heard in court.
"Other countries from the US to China compensated their test veterans years ago. It is scandalous that the MoD has continued to shirk its moral responsibilities for far too long.
"It is high time these people received the long-overdue compensation they deserve for the ill effects they have suffered. The MoD cannot justify wasting a penny more on top of the hundred of thousands they have already spent in fighting legal battles. They must immediately put an end to this scandalous, penny-pinching treatment and deliver on their 'duty of care' to our nation's nuclear test veterans."
Further Information
Nick Harvey gave a witness statement to the High Court as part of the case, which included the following points:
1. In 2007 I supported the case of a North Devon constituent, a former RAF Police Sergeant, who served on Christmas Island for 18 months during British nuclear tests and subsequently suffered ill-health. I called at the time for an overhaul of the compensation scheme so that veterans could get the public recognition they deserve.
2. It is in the public interest to find out why other countries have recognised their atomic veterans. Canada and the United States have actively sought resolution with their veterans and recognised their duty of care obligations. Britain, however, continues to ignore her veterans and hide behind legislation to deny a fair and democratic hearing in the public domain.
3. It is most unsatisfactory to say that the claim has been brought too late. On the contrary the case is long overdue. The veterans are dying and time is running out. I have been informed by the solicitors instructed in this case that 48 veterans have died since July 2007 when the Court ordered a trial on limitation. More Claimants will die before the January hearing and these figures do not include those who are not yet represented in the case.
4. I believe that my constituents and the general public have the right to know what happened during the tests and what it was service personnel, many of whom were young National Servicemen, were asked to do for their country. Limitation is being used to quash the right for a trial. If the limitation argument is successful the case will never be heard and the public will never know if the veterans were treated fairly and properly protected from exposure to radiation.
15 Oct 2008 : Column 1251W
Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what estimate he has made of the costs to his Department to date of legal advice relating to claims made by nuclear test veterans claiming compensation from the Government; and how much is expected to be spent in the next 12 weeks. [222524]
Mr. Kevan Jones: Legal costs to the Department relating to compensation claims brought by nuclear test veterans up to 24 July 2008 amount to £968,050.00. The estimated subsequent costs are £543,300.00.
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