A Cabinet minister has flatly denied any cover-up of Cold War blood tests of British servicemen.
Johnny Mercer told the House of Commons today that the campaign to locate the missing medical records of those who took part in nuclear weapons trials had been politicised by opponents of the Government.
He said: "Some records were taken, some weren't, there is not a cover-up policy here to discriminate against this cohort. It simply doesn't exist. What would be the reason to cover this up rather than look after these people?"
The Veterans Affairs minister spoke after being tackled on allegations he had failed to support ex-servicemen who found their medical records have been filleted of information relating to service at the nuclear tests in the 1950s and 1960s.
If such blood tests were taken, they would be definitive proof of whether the veterans were harmed by radiation, potentially leading to mass compensation.
Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck, whose South Shields constituency includes test veterans, asked Mercer about a recent Mirror report - confirmed by his office - that he had told campaigners if they wanted to find out more they could sue the Ministry of Defence.
She said: "The minister has recently been shown evidence that blood testing was carried out on servicemen in the 1950s and 1960s, testing that the MoD denied existed. His response was to say that he couldn't do anything, and the nuclear veterans should sue the MoD. To dismiss these veterans in this way is a dereliction of his duty as veterans minister, isn't it?"
Mercer did not directly answer the question, instead talking about "the politicisation of this campaign around nuclear test veterans". He said only the Conservatives had delivered a nuclear test medal, announced last November by Rishi Sunak after a four-year Mirror campaign.
He added: "The truth is that no-one's done more than we have, on this side of the House, in delivering that medal over 70 years to our veterans who served there. There is no cover-up in this space."
Mercer, who is a Cabinet Office minister, pointed to junior defence minister Andrew Murrison sitting beside him and said: "I've worked extensively with my honourable friend to uncover records in this space".
Murrison has previously told the Commons that blood tests have been stored among "scientific documentation" from the trials. In 2018 the MoD said it held "no information" about the blood tests. Last month, it admitted it may hold almost 5,000 files on it.
Veterans have now launched a crowdfunder to sue the MoD to disclose the records, backed with big donations from the Daily Mirror and Ecotricity tycoon Dale Vince. Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has also pledged to uncover the answers if there is a change of government, and deliver compensation.
But Mercer told the Commons: "I do, I'm afraid, rally against this politicisation of the veterans cohort. We've all got a responsibility to act maturely in this space and make sure they receive the answers they deserve really after a very long time."
Alan Owen, who founded campaign group Labrats, said: "If he was acting maturely he'd engage with us and look at the evidence, not block us on social media. He seems to have merely asked the MoD if it's hiding anything, and taken its denials at face value. As any veteran could tell him, that's not a good idea."