Two Sussex forces veterans joined a Downing Street protest at the Government's refusal to grant war pensions to servicemen who took part in nuclear tests.

Ex-RAF man Gordon Laws, 65, from Brighton, was one of more than 100 ex-servicemen to mark the 50th anniversary of the start of Operation Hurricane - a project to assess the effect of a nuclear explosion in a harbour.

The veterans claim the tests have led to the deaths of thousands of comrades through ill-health.

But the Ministry of Defence insists independent medical tests on servicemen who took part in the trials show 'no sign of excess ill-health or morbidity' than that suffered by the general population.

Mr Laws was joined at yesterday's protest by Peter Woodham, 74, from Eastbourne.

Mr Woodham said: "It makes you feel sick. They have just dismissed us - it's as if it never happened."

Operation Hurricane, which saw the first British atomic detonation - was carried out on the island of Montebello, off Western Australia. There were three nuclear weapons tests between 1952 and 1956.

These, and a number of tests on the Christmas Islands, used a total of 20,000 British servicemen, with a further 18,000 military personnel and civilians drafted in from Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.