DEFENCE Minister Luke Pollard skirted around demands for compensation for nuclear test veterans at a fringe event at the Labour conference today.

More than 20,000 personnel were present at British nuclear weapon tests between 1952 and 1967 in Australia and the South Pacific.

Former RAF worker David Kirby confronted the minister about how the Ministry of Defence had repeatedly “shut down” requests for blood records.

He said that the government “don’t want bad liabilities coming out,” but the veterans deserve to be paid out and know if their children will be affected.

Mr Pollard took the opportunity to commend his own efforts in helping secure medals for the veterans.

He said that the Veterans Minister Alaister Carns has been discussing “next steps” but that he has no “precise update.”

After listing other injustices such as the treatment of LGBT veterans and the contaminated blood scandal, he said: “Although sometimes with those things there’s questions of compensation, for me, having listened to people affected by many of those concerns, the thing that most of them want as a first step is just understanding that something went wrong, that someone’s learned from it, that their pain has been addressed.”

The fringe event was sponsored by arms giant BAE Systems, a key supplier to the Israeli military, which has over 50 sites across Britain.

Mr Pollard played down Britain’s involvement in Israel’s atrocities, saying that the country “doesn’t export a huge amount of arms to Israel when you compare to other partners.

“Every single piece of arms export that we should have as a country must comply with international humanitarian law.”

Earlier that day, two activists from Youth Demand, who are calling for a two-way arms embargo on Israel, spray-painted “genocide conference” on the entrance of the conference gates, before being arrested by police.