Service Medal for British nuclear test veterans

That this House honours the UK service personnel who participated in the British nuclear testing programme in Australia and the South Pacific from 1952 to 1967; notes that over 20,000 British personnel were present during the atomic tests and were exposed to ionising radiation with little or no personal protective equipment; acknowledges that British nuclear test veterans have long campaigned for the official recognition of their great and ongoing sacrifice, and compensation for health conditions resulting from exposure to the high-levels of ionising radiation; understands that the UK is the only country which performed nuclear tests that is yet to formally recognise the contribution of its nuclear test veterans; and urges the Government to award service medals, without delay, to our nuclear test veterans, whose numbers are now sadly dwindling.