NUCLEAR test veterans have been given a boost after Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to personally look into their case.
Mr Cameron spoke out after veterans and their families suffered another blow in the veterans’ bid for compensation Ten of the 1,011 ex-servicemen launched test cases against the MoD, blaming atomic experiments in the South Pacific in the 1950s for their ill health.
Former RAF serviceman Archie Ross, of Oak Close, Church Gresley — who claims his exposure to radiation on Christmas Island impacted on his own health, as well as that of his daughter and his young grandson — is one of the veterans pushing for compensation.
But judges have now ruled that nine cannot proceed because they were launched outside the legal time limit.
They also said they had no evidence to show the tests were to blame.
Veterans and their supporters reacted angrily to the decision — which came in the same week as the Government agreed to pay millions in out of court settlements to terror suspects who were detained at the US miltary’s controversial camp at Guantanamo Bay.
However, Mr Cameron’s pledge to look into the issue gave them fresh hope.
He said: “Let me say about the Guantanamo detainees — the decision to settle was not just about saving money, it was also about freeing our security services who have hundreds of people working on the cases.
“Then we are in a position to go forward and have the security services doing what they ought to be doing, keeping us safe rather than fighting in the courts.
“As for the case of the veterans, I will certainly agree to cast my eye over it.”
Alan Rimmer, British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association spokesman, said: “Understandably we have become cynical about politicians over the years. But Mr Cameron may break the mould — I hope he does.
“If he takes a look at our case and sees it in a positive light then we would be happy to cut out all the lawyers and sit down and talk with him.”
