The Armed Forces minister, Doug Henderson, told the BBC: "There are a number of other studies which are due to be published in the next 12 months and I have to make an assessment following those studies but I can say I am not unsympathetic."

Veteran Andrew Horner and Minister Doug Henderson debate the Gulf War Syndrome study

He added: "Once we've seen the other studies, if there is then a consensus on what the disease or illness is and how it can be treated then we've got to put the resources in to do that. If that means then that there is a case for compensation then it will be up to the lawyers to sort that out."

He added that the government would look at funding more research. "If there are any other scientists who have any other approaches they want to adopt, if they approach us with a programme for research then we would be happy to look at funding, providing of course that the Medical Research Council believe it's a sensible way forward."

But these words were cold comfort to veteran Andrew Horner who doubted the minister's commitment to the welfare of sick veterans.

Mr Horner said that the longer veterans had to wait for any compensation, the less of them there would be alive to benefit from it. "The current death figure is in excess of 400 already," he said.

He said that the Ministry of Defence had denied assistance to sick veterans and was currently in the process taking two of them to court for the theft of documents which, he said, the MoD were about to publish anyway.

The documents apparently showed that, despite repeated denials, the government was looking into the link between illness suffered by veterans and exposure to depleted uranium.

Study 'gives MoD ammunition'

One of 50,000 British soldiers who served in the 1990 Gulf War, Mr Horner welcomed the latest study carried out at King's College London but said some of its findings would harm the veterans' case.

The survey compared about 3,000 service personnel who served in the Gulf with those who did not. It found all veterans suffered the same illnesses, although those from the Gulf were affected two or three times as much. But it concluded no single condition existed.

Mr Horner, who himself suffered from various illnesses since his return from the Middle East, told BBC Radio's Today programme: "The ambiguity and some of the statements within the report actually provide the government with ammunition to fight against the veterans' cause."

His own participation in Operation Desert Storm left him with severe physical and psychological damage.