Forces' pay and conditions review

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The pay and conditions of Armed Forces staff is to be reviewed, Downing Street has announced.

Tony Blair ordered a review of their support package "several weeks ago" and it should be available "shortly".

The Prime Minister's official spokesman added UK personnel were not poorly treated compared with other countries.

The statement follows reports some troops are paid less than the minimum wage of £5.35 an hour - a claim dismissed by the Ministry of Defence.

The PM's spokesman said: "The prime minister asked several weeks ago that the whole package of support for the Armed Forces should be looked at.

"That whole process of review should become available shortly."

Our troops are being sent on more and more missions, in more and more distant lands - but they still have to pay income tax while on operations Conservative leader David Cameron

The spokesman added Britain was "around the top of the table" in surveys from 2002 and 2005 into the pay and conditions of forces in Nato and Commonwealth countries.

Throughout their careers, all service personnel receive a 13% allowance on top of their basic salaries, he added.

Conservative leader David Cameron, writing in the Sun newspaper on Monday, said he felt making personnel pay income tax while in action was not fair.

"Our troops are being sent on more and more missions, in more and more distant lands - but they still have to pay income tax while on operations.

"The government says this is all fair. I say it isn't. So, when we put together our forces manifesto, we're going to look at a way to sort these problems out," Mr Cameron wrote.