BARONESS Taylor of Bolton has revealed that the Government is “striving” to ensure that British troops in Afghanistan can vote by post in the General Election.

The defence minister said at Question Time that her department was working with the Ministry of Justice and the Electoral Commission to enable the armed forces to vote.

She said: “We are striving to expedite — subject to operational priorities — the delivery of ballot papers to and from Afghanistan for service personnel.

“We have encouraged all personnel to register to vote and to vote by proxy.”

Baroness Taylor said the Electoral Commission had designed “a bespoke registration form” which was being given to service personnel in Afghanistan.

She added: “Special arrangements are being made to despatch ballot papers and indeed to return them as quickly as possible — all, of course, subject to operational requirements.”

Forces personnel based in the UK can register in the same way as ordinary electors, but those based overseas can only vote by proxy and not cast their vote personally.

The Government has previously said that it will attempt to use supply planes to fly ballot papers to and from Afghanistan.