NORTH Swindon MP Michael Wills has said all service personnel serving abroad will have the chance to vote in the coming general election.

It comes after fierce criticism from the Wiltshire-based charity the Army Families Federation, which says postal votes for those serving abroad may not count because of delays.

They have also slammed the proxy vote scheme saying there are no guarantees of the person voting for the chosen candidate.

Mr Wills, who is also the Justice Secretary, said: “We’re putting in bespoke arrangements that postal votes will be issued by returning officers, sped out to Afghanistan as soon as possible, by military flights, and sent out to our armed services.”

He went on to say that the postal votes would be “available subject to operational requirements”.

The Ministry of Defence and the Electoral Commission say service personnel and their families living abroad should vote by proxy or postal vote.

There are currently about 13,700 British troops deployed on operations overseas, with 9,500 of those based in Afghanistan.

In its last survey, the MoD said 65 per cent of serving personnel were registered to vote.

Julie McCarthy, chief executive of the Army Families Federation, said the current system is not reliable enough.

She said: “When we were in Germany, my father was my proxy vote and if he voted the way I wanted him to, I’d be very surprised.

“And I know of a few people who have that problem and not everybody has somebody that they can trust, that they want to give that proxy vote too.”