Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the assertion made by the then Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, in a June 2025 interview on Newsnight that there had been a cover-up concerning British veterans involved in nuclear weapons testing.

The Government is deeply grateful to all those who participated in the UK nuclear testing programme. We owe an enduring debt of gratitude to the more than 22,000 Service personnel, scientists and civilians whose contributions helped safeguard the nation's security.

The Government has carefully considered concerns raised regarding the handling of records relating to the UK nuclear testing programme. To address long-standing questions from nuclear test veterans about blood and urine testing policies, an extensive records discovery exercise was commissioned and completed, examining tens of thousands of documents held by the Ministry of Defence.

The exercise found no evidence of intentional concealment of medical records. The findings were published along with an accompanying Written Ministerial Statement on 15 July 2026.