The offer to compensate and resettle several hundred Iraqis employed by Britain could cost the Government up to £25 million.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, set out the fine print of the deals for Iraqi interpreters and other staff who will be offered the chance to move to Britain or receive cash to help them relocate in the region.

After reading Mr Miliband’s statement on the Foreign Office website last night, one senior interpreter at the British base in Basra said: “For me, this decision means that the British Government has saved the lives of two children and a lady.” M. Saraj was referring to his wife and family. “I think that they have appreciated all of the efforts we have made, according to what I am reading,” he said.

“Thank you for the British Government, they have respected our rights. I have no words.”

Hundreds of Iraq interpreters rebuffed by UK

Nearly half of applications to settle in Britain have been rejected by the MoD already despite safety fears

Multimedia

• Video: the online war

• Pictures: Life in Iraq

BACKGROUND

• Story of brothers who worked for the British

• I’ve no regrets, says interpreter

• What’s Arabic for ‘we’ll stand by you’?

• Abandoned: the 91 Iraqis who risked all

In a written Commons statement, Mr Miliband acknowledged that Britain owed “our Iraqi staff an enormous debt of gratitude for their dedicated service”.

Thousands of Iraqis have worked for the British since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 but only Iraqis who worked continuously for the British for 12 months since January 2005 will be eligible.

The 400-500 former staff who qualify for help are only being offered the cash payment or the option of settling in Britain as asylum-seekers.

This last provision caused concern among some interpreters in Iraq who will not be eligible for “exceptional leave” to enter Britain.

Instead they would have to apply through a special refugee programme, which would involve travelling to Syria or Jordan to become registered as refugees, a process that is difficult and can take months. “I have to apply for asylum but how do I do this?” asked one interpreter who was forced to quit his job last year after working alongside British soldiers since autumn 2003. “I want to survive.”

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on International Development, said that the Government should not have restricted assistance to those who had worked 12 months.

Dan Hardie, who has campaigned on behalf of Iraqis working for the British, said: “They are penny-pinching at the expense of people’s lives.”

A few days ago, a former interpreter sent a desperate email to The Times, saying that Iraqi forces had said that they would kill him because he was a spy. He is now in hiding.

Mark Brockway, a former soldier who served in Iraq and has been lobbying on behalf of Iraqis employed by the British, said he wanted to see how the new policy would work in practice.

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