[BITList] THE British government under pressure.

[John Feltham]

The Times July 04, 2011 10:00AM 

THE British government was under pressure last night to settle a multimillion-pound fight with more than 1000 veterans of nuclear tests in Australia and the Pacific or risk wasting even more money on a "morally unjustifiable" legal battle that could drag on for years. 

Supporters of the pensioners, who participated in Britain's atomic bomb trials in the Pacific in the 1950s, said that it was time for the Ministry of Defence to follow the world's four other main nuclear powers and pay compensation. 

A group of veterans who are dying of cancer and other conditions at a rate of about three a month will this month go to the Supreme Court to challenge an attempt by the MoD to have their landmark case thrown out. 

Several more former servicemen are being forced to tackle the department at a pensions tribunal next week, where the same government lawyers are trying to block access to a payment scheme reserved for veterans who became ill in the line of duty. 

Chris Williamson, Labour MP for Derby North, urged both sides to reach an agreement out of court. "Financially and morally it is the right thing to do to settle now," he said. "MoD civil servants are extremely unsympathetic and using every move in the book to avoid paying out. There is absolutely no justification for that... Ministers need to exercise their authority and sort this out." 

The MoD has already spent about £6.5 million defending compensation claims, while the veterans' fight - funded by a law firm whose costs will be covered by the department if they win - has reached up to £13 million. 

Neil Sampson, a senior partner at Rosenblatt, the firm representing the veterans, said: "When we eventually win there is a risk that the total legal costs will exceed the damages that they would pay. Because of the technical arguments raised by the MoD no court has yet considered the real issues in the claim." 

Mr Sampson wants the government to set up a compensation fund worth about £30 million that would give one-off payments to eligible veterans or their dependents. 

The MoD, however, maintains that there is no evidence that any sickness affecting the veterans was linked to their participation in the atomic experiments, on the Australian mainland, Montebello Islands and Christmas Island. The trials, between 1952 and 1958, were critical in the development of Britain's nuclear warheads, the cornerstone of the country's defence. 

The United States, France, Russia and China, which conducted similar trials, have each set up funds to award their atomic veterans. 

Terry Bambridge, 75, suffered infertility and bone problems after spending almost a year at Maralinga, southern Australia, from July 1956. 

Several of his friends who were also there have since died of cancer. 

"There is no doubt that they were affected by the explosions," he said. "Britain ought to act like the other governments. They have to recognise that people have suffered. We were used as guinea pigs. I would like an apology." 

Britain's nuclear veterans became aware in the 1980s of the possibility that their presence at the atomic trials had affected their health. 

A seemingly disproportionate number of the 26,000 servicemen, also from Australia, Fiji and New Zealand, sent to the sites had died prematurely of a range of illnesses including cancer and heart disease. Complaints of skin disease and infertility were common, while many offspring were sickly. 

Jeff Liddiatt, 71, vice-chairman of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association, a charity, was one of the first people to think about litigation. 

Mr Liddiatt, who served with the RAF in Maralinga from 1959 to 1960, was relatively healthy until he reached 50. "Then the problems started like an avalanche. I have had seven operations on my back and am suffering with heart disease." 

In early 2000, Mr Liddiatt and his colleagues were granted legal aid to explore the options for suing the government. That support was suddenly withdrawn in 2005, so Rosenblatt took up the increasingly toxic and costly battle. 

Mr Sampson now represents 1011 veterans or their surviving family members. 

"Every step of the way there has been procedural argument and difficulty," he said. "The government is playing here with people's lives. We are not talking about hundreds of millions of pounds. We are talking about a little compensation for a few elderly and sick people and an apology." 

The test case of 10 veterans brought against the MoD had a setback last year when the Court of Appeal ruled that all but one member of the group was time-barred from bringing a claim. 

Determined to pursue every avenue, the nine losing veterans will ask the Supreme Court on July 28 for permission to appeal against the judgment. If they are successful, the appeal will probably be heard within a year. 

In any event, Mr Sampson is preparing to push forward with the one successful test claim and those of the other 1001 veterans still outstanding. 

The MoD said that it has "tremendous sympathy" for any veteran who was ill, but a spokesman highlighted the appeal court ruling that "the claimants had produced no evidence to link illnesses with attendance at the nuclear tests". 

The ministry advises veterans of the tests to apply for a war pension, but MoD lawyers are fighting 16 such attempts because the link between ill-health and the trials is disputed. 

A pensions appeals tribunal is due to decide tomorrow whether to start a series of hearings on the issue from July 11 or delay until September. 



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