Why a Special Tribunal?

We have received lots of questions regarding the call for a special tribunal, so we have asked McCue Jury & Partners to prepare a summary document of the confidential briefing paper which was sent to the UK Government.

TRUTH, JUSTICE & LEGACY SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR NUCLEAR TESTING VETERANS

This document summarises the confidential briefing paper sent to Prime Minister Andy Burnham on 24 July 2026 on the ‘Truth, Justice & Legacy Special Tribunal for Nuclear Testing Veterans’ (the Special Tribunal). It sets out (i) why a Special Tribunal is required and beneficial; (ii) what it might/should look like; (iii) how it should be designed and implemented; and (iv) next steps.

The Special Tribunal envisages a justice platform that sits between a Public Inquiry and litigation (a process more akin to a people’s court, mediation, international tribunals, reparations commissions, and truth and reconciliation mechanisms). It is envisaged to be simple to construct, fast-tracked and confined from Research & Development (R&D) to completion (judgements and reparations) within 12 months. Note that the Nuremberg Trials were completed within this timeframe and concerned a significantly broader factual matrix.

WHY A SPECIAL TRIBUNAL IS REQUIRED & BENEFICIAL

Justice for the Veterans requires six elements: (i) recognition; (ii) truth; (iii) accountability; (iv) reparations; (v) due/judicial process under statutory authority; and (vi) reconciliation (including an apology). They need all six urgently, given their advanced age and the protracted nature of the injustice. The Veterans’ families, the UK public, the armed forces, and those silenced by the MOD/HMG deserve justice too.

No other route delivers all six elements: (i) a Public Inquiry can find facts but cannot award compensation or determine liability; it could take a decade at great cost and would almost certainly require subsequent litigation to provide compensation; (ii) a compensation scheme without liability or adjudication is merely a ‘token’ the Veterans will not accept; (iii) litigation is slow and adversarial and exposes the Treasury to open-ended liability; and (iv) prosecutions deliver accountability alone.

A Special Tribunal delivers all six in one go: recognising the Veterans’ voices, establishing the truth, determining liability, awarding reparations to Veterans, their families and descendants, and founding an enduring legacy (including providing legitimisation as a foundation for a memorial). It fills an obvious gap in the UK justice system (providing access to justice in a timely, fair and more appropriate manner to class victims of government harm) and provides government with an opportunity to settle the injustice after over 70 years, creating a positive legacy out of toxic fallout, and bringing the UK into line with other nations who have compensated their Nuclear Test Veterans and families.

WHAT THE SPECIAL TRIBUNAL MIGHT/SHOULD LOOK LIKE

A Special Tribunal would combine the investigative powers of a Public Inquiry with the adjudicative and compensatory function of a court, drawing on international transitional justice models that the UK has supported. It would be a bespoke and judge-led Tribunal, with the following functions:

a. Investigatory: compelling disclosure of records and witnesses; taking victim, witness and expert testimony; establishing the history of the tests, the harm and liability for it; private handling of classified material; and commissioning health and genetic research into the impact on descendants.

b. Adjudicatory: a judicial determination of eligibility, evidence and liability, with a detailed and reasoned judgment.

c. Reparatory: a Reparations Fund agreed and capped at the outset, distributed on agreed parameters scaled to the harm proved, with enforcement powers equivalent to a court.

d. Eligibility: restricted criteria and automatic awards in banded, tariffed categories (without victims being put to strict proof in the absence of proper MOD medical records).

e. Legacy: education and research; a library/museum/archive holding the Veterans’ voices, evidence and scientific research and providing continuing welfare support; and a memorial at proposed sites.

In return, the Veterans and their families would settle all existing and future civil claims and agree to the capped Fund and Tribunal process.

It requires no novel constitutional architecture: only fast-tracked legislation (for which there is cross-party support) or existing ministerial/statutory powers or a combination of both.

Cost efficiency, capped exposure, protection of classified material and ambit of claimants can be designed in. Tribunal time can be reduced by encouraging agreement towards uncontested evidence so that only contested evidence would occupy the Tribunal’s time.

HOW THE SPECIAL TRIBUNAL SHOULD BE DESIGNED & IMPLEMENTED

This shape, ambit, terms, powers, budget and Fund must be agreed urgently, in two steps: (i) a Framework Document agreeing key parameters; and then (ii) R&D on the detail. These are to be agreed between McCue Jury & Partners (MJP) representing the Veterans/their families and LABRATS, and the Cabinet Office representing HMG/MOD. The process is envisaged to be non-adversarial, amicable, open and collaborative, ensuring consultation at all stages with those they represent.

The spirit of the Special Tribunal should be mediative and reconciliatory; it should be about facts, scientific research on harm, and the Veterans’ stories, with an adversarial approach restricted to just contested factual evidence.

Representation of the four categories of stakeholders: (i) Veterans and their community; (ii) MOD; (iii) HMG; and (iv) others (conflicted within (i)-(iii)) should be limited to four separate streamlined legal teams so as to drastically reduce Tribunal time. HMG should fund all four teams (as well as MJP/counsel for the R&D phase).

NEXT STEPS

The following timetable has been proposed:

a. The Framework Document should be agreed before the second week of September and R&D completed within three months thereafter (finalised before the end of Q4 2026);

b. Implementation by Q1 2027 with the hearing commencing no later than the start of Q2 2027 and concluding by Q4 2027.

The Veteran community has been consulted on this proposal and fully support it. They have been consistent and clear for several years: they will not accept a financial settlement in the absence of a finding of liability, nor simply token justice, nor redress designed by HMG for them without their input.

McCue Jury & Partners LLP

August 2026

LABRATS continue to work with the Nuclear Community in progressing truth and justice for all. This special tribunal will allow veterans and their families to be heard and to allow for accountability.

Anyone requiring further information can contact LABRATS or McCue Jury & Partners for further details.