Cuts To Soldiers' Compensation Slammed

There has been a call to think again on a controversial bid by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to reduce compensation awarded to injured soldiers.

Stormont Junior Minister Robin Newton - who is an East Belfast DUP MLA - has described the actions of the Government as "weak-willed".

He also accused them of being totally out of touch as they launched an attempt to deny injured soldiers already agreed compensation for their injuries.

This is despite British troops this month suffering their heaviest casualties since the beginning of the conflict in Afghanistan in 2001.

In addition to 20 British soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan this month, the number sustaining severe injuries has also surged.

Robin Newton said: "The Government in taking forward a legal case to seek cut-backs in the compensation awarded to young soldiers sends out completely the wrong message to those who daily risk their lives at the front lines."

Commenting that two young men from the east of the city have made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, he said "this distasteful action on compensation cut-backs will be resented by all right thinking people".

"Those who are injured, and often in pain for the rest of their lives, will feel cheated and believe the compensation system is failing to fully appreciate their wounds," he continued.

Currently, soldiers who are injured in the course of duty are compensated under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme, set up in 2005.

The cases in question centre on compensation awarded to Anthony Duncan, a soldier with the Light Dragoons, and Matthew McWilliams, a Royal Marine.

Both men sustained severe leg injuries, one in training and the other in Iraq, and managed to increase significantly the sums awarded to them by appealing to a tribunal.

The MoD, concerned at the prospect of a big rise in the level of payouts, then went to the High Court to try to overturn the ruling and suspended disbursements for three months for all but the worst injuries.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Robert Key, the Tory MP for Salisbury and a member of the Commons Defence Select Committee, said: "The MoD is in an extraordinary situation. Their keenness to avoid any overpayments is pretty unseemly and the public is up in arms against them because of the way they have treated the injured when they come home."

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it had been "one of the most difficult summers" since UK forces entered Afghanistan in 2001.

"It's time to commemorate all those soldiers who have given their lives and to thank all our British forces for the determination and professionalism and courage that they've shown," he added.

See: Miliband Wants Talks With Taliban

(BMcC)