Latest news with #AlCarns
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Afghan soldiers affected by data leak could receive £20k compensation
The veterans minister has met Afghan troops whose personal details were leaked ahead of an expected compensation deal. Al Carns staged talks with former Special Forces soldiers on Saturday before formal negotiations around payouts begin. The meetings with the 'Triples' – a name derived from the code numbers of their units – took place at an Afghan community festival in Birmingham. According to legal sources, defence chiefs intend to make an offer to the Triples to settle out of court, in a bid to cut out law firms. Direct payments from the UK Government to the Afghans of around £20,000 have been mentioned.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Afghan troops whose personal details were leaked may be in line for a £20,000 payout, sources say
The veterans minister has met Afghan troops whose personal details were leaked ahead of an expected compensation deal. Al Carns staged talks with former Special Forces soldiers on Saturday before formal negotiations around payouts begin. The meetings with the 'Triples' – a name derived from the code numbers of their units – took place at an Afghan community festival in Birmingham. According to legal sources, defence chiefs intend to make an offer to the Triples to settle out of court, in a bid to cut out law firms. Direct payments from the UK Government to the Afghans of around £20,000 have been mentioned. Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines officer who served with some of the Triples in Afghanistan, said it was 'great to sit down with some of my Afghan friends'. He added: 'We talked about how they're finding life in the UK, mental health and importantly how many would be interested in serving again in one form or another.' Ministers have pledged to play hardball in a bid to reduce the costs of the leak. Mr Carns (pictured speaking with British Army personnel in October last year), a former Royal Marines officer who served with some of the Triples in Afghanistan, said it was 'great to sit down with some of my Afghan friends' At one point ministers signed off an estimate of £7billion, which they say includes all the Government's Afghan schemes. Law firms such as Manchester-based Barings Law are confident they can obtain much more than £20,000 on their clients' behalf. The firm's Adnan Malik said: 'The Government claims they will not be paying compensation but are trying to make a secret agreement. ' The Ministry of Defence said: 'Throughout our relocations scheme, we are honouring the commitment to those brave Afghans that supported the UK mission.
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Ministers face £5bn Nuked Blood bill as they refuse to reveal evidence
Ministers have refused to tell Parliament what evidence they have found about human radiation experiments on troops. The Nuked Blood Scandal threatens to land the MoD with a potential £5bn lawsuit 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.
Glasgow Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
No 10 says work on repealing Legacy Act ‘in lockstep' but minister may quit
Sir Keir Starmer's Government plans to repeal and replace the Legacy Act, brought in by the Conservatives in 2023 to halt investigations into all but the most serious allegations involving Troubles-related cases. Human rights groups criticised the act for providing immunity to British soldiers. But opponents to scrapping it fear that the changes will open up a 'two-tier' system in which IRA members are given immunity but British troops are open to prosecution. Veterans minister Al Carns is expected to quit over plans to repeal the law, The Times reported. A No 10 spokesman said the Government was 'working in lockstep' when asked if Mr Carns agreed with Sir Keir's approach, a No 10 spokesman said. 'The Government is always working in lockstep to deal with issues such as this, and we're working in lockstep to fix this issue and the mess that we were left.' 'And as I say, we will set out a process that gives veterans and their families confidence and sets out a process that's proportionate, that's not malicious, that has safeguards in place, and fixes the mess that we were left with. He said the Government was setting out a course that is 'lawful with fairness at its heart' and that 'we will always protect our veterans'.
Leader Live
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Leader Live
No 10 says work on repealing Legacy Act ‘in lockstep' but minister may quit
Sir Keir Starmer's Government plans to repeal and replace the Legacy Act, brought in by the Conservatives in 2023 to halt investigations into all but the most serious allegations involving Troubles-related cases. Human rights groups criticised the act for providing immunity to British soldiers. But opponents to scrapping it fear that the changes will open up a 'two-tier' system in which IRA members are given immunity but British troops are open to prosecution. Veterans minister Al Carns is expected to quit over plans to repeal the law, The Times reported. A No 10 spokesman said the Government was 'working in lockstep' when asked if Mr Carns agreed with Sir Keir's approach, a No 10 spokesman said. 'The Government is always working in lockstep to deal with issues such as this, and we're working in lockstep to fix this issue and the mess that we were left.' 'And as I say, we will set out a process that gives veterans and their families confidence and sets out a process that's proportionate, that's not malicious, that has safeguards in place, and fixes the mess that we were left with. He said the Government was setting out a course that is 'lawful with fairness at its heart' and that 'we will always protect our veterans'.
