Ministers face £5bn Nuked Blood bill as they refuse to reveal evidence

Ministers have uncovered government plans to conduct radiation experiments on troops, but refused to give details to Parliament.

It comes days after the Defence Secretary told MPs he was “deeply uncomfortable” about a super-injunction that prevented him discussing a £7bn data leak about Afghan troops and translators.

Now the Mirror can reveal that his department is again hiding potentially expensive errors behind the cloak of a “ministerial review” - with final costs estimated at a further £5bn.

Tory grandee Sir John Hayes said: "Given that the ministers will have discovered a great deal in this review, it's important they inform Parliament of it at the earliest opportunity to maintain good faith, and I will be raising this in the House as a matter of urgency."

The inquiry was ordered last year after a BBC documentary showcased our investigation of the Nuked Blood Scandal, a Cold War programme of mass blood and urine testing on servicemen conducted in Australia and the Pacific for more than a decade.

The results are missing from medical files, effectively denying them war pensions, compensation, and the right medical treatment. MoD officials have repeatedly told Parliament and the courts that blood testing never took place.

Veterans Minister Al Carns has been asked several times by MPs of all parties to reveal his findings from the 10-month review of Ministry of Defence archives, but has rejected the calls, saying he is hunting for evidence of an official policy of blood-testing. “I will update the house when I am in a position to share the findings of the exercise that is looking at concerns raised with me about some nuclear test veterans' medical records,” he told the Commons.

His staff have examined 43,000 files, amounting to more than a million pages. They include a 1957 request from Charles Adams, the scientific director of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment that blood counts should be done on troops even if others “thought it unnecessary”.

A second AWRE letter examined by his team says blood tests are needed “from the medico-legal aspect” for all troops and civilians before they leave the UK because “we wish to exclude people with existing pathological conditions... we wish to be able to demonstrate that this has been done in any case in which a claim for damage is made”.

The review is also thought to have uncovered a 1958 operational order from Bomber Command stating that “all personnel who go to Christmas Island should have the following blood examinations made and the results recorded in [their file]”.

READ MORE: Video of Labour's broken promises to nuke veterans gets 3 million views as pressure grows

It is not known whether these documents have been personally shown or briefed to the minister, but his officials are known to have examined the files between January and July. The MoD is facing a lawsuit from veterans and widows about non-production of the medical records, estimated to top £5bn.

Alan Owen of campaign group LABRATS said: “The data leak which has caused so much outrage was blamed on the previous government, but this happened entirely on Labour ’s watch.

“They set up the review, they’ve been briefed on the findings, and they’ve refused repeated requests from Parliament to reveal what they know. They don’t even have the excuse of a super-injunction to hide behind - this is the government’s own doing.”

A spokesman for the MoD said: “The Minister for Veterans and People has commissioned officials to look seriously into unresolved questions regarding medical records as a priority, and this is now underway.

"This work will be comprehensive, and it will enable us to better understand what information the department holds in relation to the medical testing of service personnel who took part in the UK nuclear weapons tests, ensuring that we can be assured that relevant information has been looked at thoroughly.”

The spokesman was unable to confirm whether the minister had personally reviewed the files seen by his team.