Emmanuel Macron praised for 'humiliation' of Keir Starmer in treatment of nuclear veterans

French President Emmanuel Macron has been praised for overseeing what amounts to a "national humiliation" of Keir Starmer during his state visit to the UK.

As the European leader was being feted in Windsor Castle and Downing Street, his government at home was pushing on with compensation payouts of almost £10m to troops exposed to the effects of Cold War nuclear weapons tests.

Meanwhile the Prime Minister has been accused of ghosting his own nuclear veterans, ignoring requests for a meeting for 351 days, as a viral video detailing Labour's broken Opposition promises hit an astonishing 4m views.

READ MORE: Mum-of-five left woman's face scarred after broken bottle attack outside bar

READ MORE: Madeleine McCann breakthrough hopes as Christian Bruekner may be held in jail longer

Alan Owen of campaign group LABRATS said: "We're delighted to see that President Macron has fulfilled his election promises of compensating nuclear troops, with war pensions of almost £10m paid out in the past year, and a total of £77m paid since he took office. It's progressive, responsible, and exactly the sort of thing we have asked the UK government to introduce."

He added: "Unfortunately, the UK government is the last nuclear power on Earth to still be demanding fresh evidence that radiation is bad for you. I hope the two leaders found time to discuss their very different approaches to their national heroes, and that Starmer feels it is as much of a national humiliation as we do."

The French compensation scheme pays out an average of £56,000 to any veteran who can prove they were in the testing grounds in the relevant time period, and have developed one of 23 radiogenic cancers and conditions. By comparison, British nuclear veterans face an uphill battle, with less than 1% of those who apply awarded a war pension of just a few hundred pounds a month, and many finding their medical records are missing.

* You can support the veterans' fight for justice HERE

The total paid out by the French over the past 15 years their scheme has been running amounts to just 1.5% of the estimated £5bn bill of an upcoming lawsuit brought by British veterans against the Ministry of Defence, which has refused to talk about alternative resolution.

Starmer became the first UK party leader to meet veterans in 2021, during a campaign for a medal, and told them: "Your campaign is our campaign." Members of his shadow cabinet repeatedly called on the Tories to introduce compensation, and said it was "really dumb" for the government to fail to act.

In 2022, the first evidence emerged of a mass programme of blood and urine monitoring of troops, without their knowledge and consent, before, during and after their service at the nuclear weapons tests. Campaigners have repeatedly urged ministers to head off the court case, and deliver justice to veterans while they are still alive, by setting up a one-year special tribunal to investigate the cover-up.

Starmer was invited to meet veterans again and see the fresh evidence in July last year after he became PM. Instead, the government has launched an internal MoD review which is four months overdue, has no specific budget, and despite examining 1.1m pages of evidence, ministers have refused to reveal what was found.

Lawyer and CEO of the Campaign for Social Justice Peter Stefanovic has piled on the pressure with a social media video of broken Opposition promises to veterans made by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, Defence Secretary John Healey, and Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard. It has been viewed by 4m people so far, and he has vowed to repost it every day until the veterans get the meeting they have asked for.

Mr Stefanovic said: "Time is running out for our nuclear test veterans, who hvae now been waiting 351 days for a meeting with the PM to discuss how he will honour the commitment Labour made to their campaign for justice and compensation in Opposition. So I'm asking the PM to honour the commitment his party made to these national heroes. Will you sit down with these brave men and their families, listen to what they have to say and work with them to ensure that they and their families who have sacrificed so much for this country finally get the justice they deserve?"

MoD fficials have refused to tell LABRATS why their invitation has been ignored.