Conservatives moot the prospect of tax cuts... for military personnel on active service

The Telegraph has the story, on the back of a solider ambushing Gordon Brown during his trip to Afghanistan at the weekend, to ask why soldiers there had to pay income tax.

David Cameron raised the issue in 2006, telling The Sun that he disagreed with the Government that it was "all fair" for British troops overseas to be paying income tax while on operations overseas.

Within a fortnight the Government had introduced a tax free bonus of £2,240 for soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan or the Balkans - but today a Conservative spokesman has said that in government the party would go further through an increase in the bonus or introducing a tax cut:

"We led a campaign for soldiers not to pay tax in theatre three years ago and the Government responded with the in-theatre payment. We will review how the in-theatre payment is working and come forward with proposals to improve what our soldiers are getting."

Jonathan Isaby