Freeze: Bereaved families on attack as pay squeeze hits armed forces

All public sector workers earning more than 21,000 will have their wages frozen for two years from next April, and on Wednesday Junior Defence Minister Andrew Robathan revealed that the move could affect 140,000 service personnel.

Yesterday Anthony Philippson, whose son, Capt James Philippson, was killed in June 2006 after British troops moved into Helmand, said it was "absolutely disgusting".

Mr Philippson, from St Albans, Hertfordshire, said: "I find it difficult to believe, to be quite frank. I think they are making a very serious mistake.

"I don't consider them (soldiers) public sector workers in any sense."

Christine Bonner's son Cpl Darren Bonner, 31, was killed in Helmand province in 2007. She also said soldiers were not the same as other public sector workers and should not be affected by the pay freeze.

Mrs Bonner, from Cambridgeshire, said: "They're probably more entitled to anything than anyone else, especially footballers – they kick a bag of air around all day long and our soldiers are out there fighting to keep our freedom.

"David Cameron did say he was going to look after the armed forces.

"I stood and talked to him before he was Prime Minister and I believed he was passionate about the armed forces."

Their comments echo those of Labour Shadow Defence Minister Kevan Jones, who said the pay freeze would be a "severe blow to morale at a critical time" for the forces:

"This blows a hole in the posturing we saw before the General Election from the Tories, who claimed they would stand up for our armed forces personnel, many of whom now must feel both deceived and let down."