Dear
On the 10th December 2020, The Advisory Military Sub-Committee (AMSC) issued their recommendations on the award of medal claims, including one from the British Nuclear Veterans Association for the award of a medal to all personnel involved in the United Kingdom’s nuclear weapons testing programme. Their recommendation to the Honours Decorations and Medals Committee (HD Committee), was that a medal should not be awarded, and this recommendation was accepted by the HD Committee.
The AMSC are supposed to be independent of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and all other Government Departments, but the majority of the members have had, or still have, strong links with the MoD, at least two are former executive directors of the MoD, and two others have ongoing links with the MoD, so it could be suggested that this committee is not truly independent. This committee appear to have only looked at evidence which was presented to the 2013 medal review and no new evidence, and used the criteria set out in the Military Medals Review of 2012, which would appear to have been superseded with the award of several medals over the past few years. This claim was for a medal to acknowledge the unique service that was involved during the nuclear testing, and to finally acknowledge what is often stated in correspondence to veterans, and also by Government ministers in parliament in reply to questions by members;
“The Government continues to recognise and are grateful to all the Servicemen who participated in the British Nuclear testing programme. They contributed to keeping our nation secure during the Cold War and since, by ensuring that the UK was equipped with an appropriate nuclear capability.”
The award of a medal would have shown the truth of these words, or are they just glib phrases written or spoken without sincerity.
The original decision for the United Kingdom to develop a nuclear weapons system was taken by politicians at the end of World War 2, so the decision whether or not a medal is awarded to the personnel involved in the nuclear testing programme should be a political decision, not to a committee that might be biased against the award of a medal due to their former careers. This should be debated and voted upon in parliament, so that we know that this topic has been fully researched.   
I look forward to reading your response to this matter, and expect the Government to do the honourable thing and finally settle this matter properly.
Yours sincerely,