Rishi Sunak has been accused of an Armistice Day snub for refusing to comment on a 70-year cover-up of nuclear veterans’ medical records.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said Tory failures to recognise the Cold War heroes were an “insult”.
Urging the PM to act, he said: “These serious revelations demand an immediate investigation.”
Yesterday the Mirror revealed troops had blood and urine taken during tests starting in 1952, but the MoD hid the results in a secret archive for more than half a century.
Mr Starmer said his party would deliver a medal for them.
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No10 confirmed that Sunak had observed the two minutes’ silence yesterday, but refused to say whether he stood by his pledge in August to support a criminal investigation.
Starmer said: “Our nuclear test veterans are national heroes who deserve full accountability and justice. These serious revelations demand an immediate investigation and, if proven, those responsible must be held to account.”
Parliament is expected to debate the case next week, after we revealed that it may have been misled in 2018 when defence ministers - briefed by their officials - claimed the MoD and AWE held no records of the blood.
In fact many are stored on microfiche at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, a MoD-owned company, which is now facing a flood of requests by veterans and their relatives to open the files.
Mr Starmer said Labour would deliver at the very least a medal for those who took part in the testing programme and added: “The Conservatives’ continued refusal to properly recognise the service of nuclear test veterans is an insult to the thousands of personnel who made a vital contribution to the creation of our independent nuclear deterrent.
“They took considerable risks to serve their country with courage and distinction, and many continue to face enduring consequences.”
Meanwhile long-term campaigner Ken McGinley, who founded the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association in 1983 and spearheaded legal battled in Strasbourg and the High Court, has revealed he was blocked from seeing his own blood tests on the basis they might upset him.
Ex-sapper Mr McGinley, 84, of Johnstone, Glasgow, fell sick during the Operation Grapple tests in the South Pacific, developed a duodenal ulcer, had part of his stomach removed, became sterile and now has stage four lung and kidney cancer.
He said: “I had a blood test taken while on Christmas Island and when I wrote off for the medical records I was told a ‘Rule 22’ had been applied. I was told it had been decided to withhold the information from me, on the grounds that revealing it could harm my mental health.
“I’ve never heard of that being applied to any other veteran of the tests.”
Mr McGinley, who took part in five nuclear explosions including the most powerful weapon Britain has ever fired, added: “We found records of meetings in 1958 saying that blood should not be taken, because it would lead to compensation claims. Some of our veterans were told they would have to engage a solicitor to access their own medical information. It’s very interesting what you’ve uncovered.”
No10 said any suggestion that Mr Sunak did not respect veterans was “categorically untrue”.
