Soldiers Pay Row

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, has called for a pay rise for soldiers after discovering traffic wardens get paid more than those on the frontline.
He said the question of pay was the most important issue facing the Armed Forces today.
More than 20,000 personnel left the Forces last year, many citing the poor salary as their reason. The lowest paid soldiers are on just £12,572 a year while traffic wardens receive a basic salary of £17,000. Servicemen and women were given a pay rise of just 2.6 this year.
The Chief of General Staff also insisted that more money must be spent on soldier's welfare, and on improving their "appalling" accommodation.
And he called for a bigger slice of the national wealth to be spent on defence, the first time a serving Army chief has ever demanded more funding in public.
General Dannatt, 57, said: "You look to see how much a traffic warden is paid and compare that against what a private soldier gets paid. Servicemen go on operations knowing they are putting their lives on the line. It is very hard to put a price on that.
"I'd like to see soldier's pay go up above inflation over the next couple of years.
"Given the insecurity in the world today and what the Armed Forces are being asked to do, then a slightly increased share of the national wealth going to defence would be appropriate.
"I regard what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere as non-discretionary - we have got to do those things.
"To make sure that we have Armed Services - in my case an Army - populated by motivated and well-trained people, we have got to look after their individual needs well enough.
"That means things like housing, pay, medical provision and general welfare facilities have got to be good. That's where I would like to see additional resources spent."
General Dannatt first raise the question of the military covenant - the duty of a country to look after it Armed Forces personnel who go to fight - nearly two years ago, saying he did not want the country to "let the Army down."
"Servicemen go on operations knowing they are putting their lives on the line. It is very hard to put a price on that."
General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army.