McCue Jury & Partners - Update
- Invisible Enemy
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
LABRATS are working closely with McCue Jury & Partners on the next steps of the litigation and have aligned our campaign strategy with them. Our new campaign runs alongside the ask for a special tribunal, and McCue are advisors to the campaign steering committee. All discussions regarding any recommendations or negotiations with the UK Government will be completed with them.
They have today provided an update:
Dear Nuclear Test Veterans, Families and Supporters,
We write with an update on two major developments since our last update: (i) our letter to the Rt Hon Andy Burnham MP, now Prime Minister, pressing him to deliver the Special Tribunal he has publicly supported; and (ii) the Ministry of Defence’s release of its reports into the Nuclear Test Veterans’ medical records, which contain a series of extraordinary admissions.
Our Letter to the Prime Minister and the Special Tribunal
In our last update we told you that we would be writing to Andy Burnham, as the likely incoming Prime Minister, to press him to finally end the Nuclear Test Veteran scandal. We have now done so.
In the week prior to his appointment as Prime Minister, Andy Burnham said in the House of Commons “Let us not forget in this list, and I know they have support from across the House, the servicemen who served this country in the post-war period in the south Pacific – our Nuclear Test Veterans. How often in this House do we praise our veterans, and how in this case have we left those veterans without truth and justice about what happened to them all those years ago? I think this House needs to hear their call for a Special Tribunal, which is entirely consistent with the aims of the Bill we are passing tonight.”
With the support from the new Prime Minister for the Nuclear Test Veterans’ proposal for a Special Tribunal, on Friday we wrote to Andy Burnham to congratulate him on his appointment and to ask for his commitment to fast-track matters.
As you are aware, the Special Tribunal is designed to deliver the six elements of justice in one process: recognition; truth; accountability; reparations; due judicial process; and reconciliation, including an apology. It is intended as a progressive, fast-track alternative to other mechanisms that have or are likely to fail the community (a public inquiry cannot award compensation or make findings on liability, inquiries of this scale would be protracted and expensive, adversarial litigation would be slower still and hugely expensive for both sides, and a voluntary compensation scheme without any findings on liability or any search for the truth would fall far short of what the veterans deserve). The community’s position has been consistent for years, and has been set out plainly to the Prime Minister: there will be no acceptance of a financial settlement in the absence of a finding on liability and the truth being revealed, and no acceptance of any token, government-led redress designed to placate.
We have also proposed a realistic timetable. Given the veterans’ age, the aim is for a framework agreement between the parties to be capable of a positive public announcement soon, with the Tribunal itself designed and implemented thereafter. We have made clear that we stand ready to work with government to establish the best model for the veterans, the MOD, the UK public, and this country’s reputation for justice. We now await the Prime Minister’s response and will update you as soon as we have one.
The MOD’s Investigation and Reports into the Missing Medical Records
On 17 July 2026, the MOD finally published its reports into the internal investigation into the Nuclear Test Veterans’ missing medical records – 19 months after it first agreed to undertake the exercise. The reports confirm what veterans have said for decades – that their medical records have been systemically lost or destroyed, or medical tests never even taken. These are the very medical records that the Nuclear Test Veterans need to prove their claims; the claims which the MOD has been fighting aggressively for decades.
We reject entirely the MOD’s attempt to normalise these serious admissions by saying the position is “consistent with the condition of other personnel and medical records from the time”, and we reject the claim that there was “no intentional concealment”. For men who stood in the fallout of nuclear detonations, these records are a matter of life and death. The statements made by the MOD are simply a further attempt to explain away decades of MOD obfuscation and denial as an ‘administrative error’.
The outcome of this internal investigation supports the need for a Special Tribunal. First, it demonstrates that the MOD – the very institution that caused the harm – cannot credibly investigate its own wrongdoing. An internal exercise, conducted on the MODs terms, was never capable of delivering accountability. Second, a process is now required that has the power to compel witness evidence, including testimony from veterans – to allow their voices to be heard and make findings on liability, in circumstances where the MOD has lost/destroyed key evidence. Only a Special Tribunal can deliver justice properly and effectively.
We also note that the MOD have released a second body of material relating to the buried 2014 AWE report, which showed elevated radiation readings on Christmas Island, contrary to the government’s position in litigation and its statements to Parliament. We are currently examining these documents in detail and assessing next steps. We will keep you updated on any developments.
Thank You
This is the closest the campaign has come to a genuine route to justice. We have a Prime Minister who has, for years and again this month in Parliament, said that the Nuclear Test Veterans were wronged and that a Special Tribunal is the answer. We have the government’s own documents admitting the destruction, loss and withholding of the medical evidence. What is needed now is action – quickly, and while the veterans are still here to see it.
As always, thank you for your trust and continued support. We remain committed to securing the justice the Nuclear Test Veterans and their families deserve. We will keep you updated as matters progress.
Conclusion
LABRATS hope that this update will provide answers to the reasoning for the new campaign and the ask for a tribunal. If you can, we ask you to please sign our petition at andykeepyourword.com
Please share the link to the petition to all of your contacts and ask them to sign. We are working closely with Andy's team and continue to meet with the OVA every month, with the next meeting scheduled for early August.
As always, if you have any questions, please contact us. We will be holding an online Q&A session in the next few weeks where any questions can be answered by the Campaign Team.
Brian Unthank, Captain Terry Hughes and Alan Owen appeared on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday to launch the campaign and discuss the special tribunal. You can watch it here:
This is a unique opportunity for us to ensure that Andy Burnham keeps his promise and orders this special tribunal, which will allow the community to have their say and for officials to be held to account.
Full details of the campaign can be found at www.labrats.international/andyb
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