Cabinet Office receive complaint against Defence Minister

BRITISH nuclear test veterans fighting a legal battle against the Government have made an official complaint after a defence minister misled Parliament about their court case.

The veterans were present when the UK tested atomic bombs in Australia and the South Pacific in the 1950s and 1960s and complain that exposure to radiation has damaged their health.

The Ministry of Defence has refused to take any responsibility for their illnesses and so veterans have taken the Government to court in a bid to win compensation.

The case is yet to come to full trial but last month defence minister Andrew Robathan incorrectly told Parliament that judges had ruled there was no link between the tests and the veterans' ill health.

Veterans' representatives have now written to the Cabinet Office – which oversees ministers' professional conduct – arguing that Mr Robathan breached the ministerial code.


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