Latest news with #AlCarns
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Veterans hail temporary reprieve on Northern Ireland 'lawfare' as Labour legislation bid stalls
The campaign to protect SAS veterans from historical legal actions was boosted on Monday night by an apparent delay to Labour 's bid to axe the Legacy Act. Aided by this newspaper's Stop The SAS Betrayal campaign, nearly 200,000 members of the public have so far backed a bid to ensure soldiers are not exposed to a witch-hunt in the form of misconduct claims from the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Tory defence spokesman Mark Francois said the Government had been 'rocked' by the backlash and had postponed a Commons bid to scrap the Legacy Act, which provides protections to UK troops. He had expected Labour to present plans for alternative legislation before summer recess. But after a surge of public support for the Mail's campaign and a parliamentary debate, they were seemingly put on ice. The move may also be linked to a reported threat by Labour veterans minister Al Carns to resign over the issue. Just under 180,000 people have signed the parliamentary petition, boosted by former SAS reservist Sir David Davis, to support veterans. The battle to preserve their legal protections – deemed unlawful by a court in Northern Ireland – is expected to resume this autumn. Meanwhile, SAS veterans have stepped up plans to reenact an incident involving Special Forces soldiers and the IRA in 1992 which is the centre of a legal battle (pictured: the scene of the shoot out) On Monday night, Mr Francois said: 'While we have won this initial battle, with the help of the Mail and its readers, we haven't won the war. 'We still need to keep up the pressure on Labour MPs not to apply "two-tier justice".' Labour's intention to remove protections for UK troops included in the Legacy Act, which was introduced by the previous government's veterans minister Johnny Mercer, was included in its election manifesto. It made the vow after a successful legal challenge to the Act in Northern Ireland. A judge found the legislation was 'unlawful' as it undermined the UK's commitment to ensure a path to justice for those wronged by the state. Meanwhile, SAS veterans have stepped up plans to reenact an incident involving Special Forces soldiers and the IRA in 1992 which is the centre of a legal battle. As many as 12 SAS troops face possible murder charges following the deaths of four IRA men in County Tyrone in 1992. Former UK military commander in Northern Ireland Colonel Richard Kemp said: 'The British people don't want to see their soldiers thrown to the wolves over incidents they can scarcely recall several decades later. 'So no wonder so many people are backing the Mail's campaign.' A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence told the Mail on Monday night: 'The failed Legacy Act has been rejected by our domestic courts, exposing our brave veterans to no settled process or safeguards. 'Any incoming government would have had to fix the mess that was left, not least because it promised giving immunity to terrorists. 'This Government's commitment to our Operation Banner veterans is unshakeable. 'We will fix it by putting in place a fair and transparent system that gives survivors and families – including bereaved Armed Forces families – the ability to find answers and threats.'
Daily Mirror
23-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Parliament told veterans "are dying by the week and month" as ministers withhold evidence of Nuked Blood Scandal
Veterans are dying while waiting for ministers to announce what evidence they have found about how they were used in nuclear weapons experiments, Parliament has heard MPs have heard an impassioned plea for ministers to reveal evidence they have uncovered of human radiation experiments on troops. Parliament was told veterans are "dying by the week and month" without the justice they have sought for decades, while an ongoing government review has uncovered proof that courts were repeatedly misled about what had befallen them. Tory grandee Sir John Hayes told the House of Commons that the survivors and their families deserved to be told the truth. He said: "Earlier this year, the government announced that there will be a review into the blood and urine tests take at the time of those tests... because of the risk of radiation poisoning. "The government has said that the review will be published, but we have no clarity as to when. There are tens of thousands of these records which are being examined as we speak... these men are now elderly; they are dying, of course, because of their age, by the week and month." Ministry of Defence lawyers have repeatedly told war pension hearings, the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court that there was no individual biological monitoring of the 40,000 UK and Commonwealth troops who took part in more than 600 radioactive weapons experiments during the Cold War. But the Mirror has uncovered thousands of memos, locked on a secret database at the Atomic Weapons Establishment on the grounds of national security, detailing orders for, and discussion of, blood counts, urinalysis, and chest x-rays, without any clinical reason beyond monitoring men's exposure to radiation. The results are now missing from their individual medical records, denying them war pensions, compensation, and accurate diagnosis of health problems. As a result of our investigation ministers launched a review which has already examined 43,000 files, and an estimated 1.1m pages of information. Earlier this week we reported that some of the files seen by the review team included requests for blood tests "from the medico-legal aspect" and orders from Bomber Command instructing RAF members of the weapons task force to be subjected to them. Yet when ministers are asked for an update on what has been found they decline. Veterans Minister Al Carns told Parliament recently: "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." Survivors of the testing claim a catalogue of cancers, blood diseases and rare medical conditions. Their wives show three times the normal rate of miscarriages, and their children 10 times the usual amount of birth defects. Successive governments have always denied troops were part of the experiment. Government lawyers told judges in sworn statements that 'the planning policy for the tests indicates that the intention was to prevent intake, rather than to allow it and monitor the results" and 'no personal records' of medical monitoring were made. Ministers also told Parliament the MoD "holds no information about blood testing", only for the evidence to later be uncovered by campaigners.
Daily Mail
21-07-2025
- 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
20-07-2025
- 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
20-07-2025
- 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.
