MPs back Lib Dems on Gurkhas' rights

9.30.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 29th Apr 2009

The Liberal Democrats have forced the Government to re-think its decision to deny soldiers who have fought for this country the right to settle here.

Cllr David Simpson (left) and Cllr Adrian Collett (right) with Gurkha campaigner Tikendra Dewan in 2005

The government issued new guidelines in April which meant that Gurkhas who left the British Army before 2007 must have served at least 20 years, or it would be unlikely they would be able to settle here.

Standard Army policy means most can only serve for 15 years. Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for the rights of Gurkhas and brought the issue to a vote in Parliament on 29th April which the Government lost!

Labour backbenchers and Conservatives supported the Lib Dem motion and inflicted Gordon Brown's first significant defeat since becoming Prime Minister.

In a humiliating climbdown, Labour minister Phil Woolas returned to the Commons later that day to tell MPs that fresh proposals would be published before Parliament's summer recess.

Prospective Lib Dem MP for Aldershot, Farnborough and Blackwater Cllr Adrian Collett and fellow County Councillor David Simpson have campaigned on the issue of Gurkhas' rights for many years.

Cllr Adrian Collett said "This is an historic victory for the Gurkhas. These brave, decent people, who have risked their lives for our country's interests time and time again, deserve to be treated fairly. This decision is long overdue. That the Government had to be defeated to achieve this outcome is shameful. Gordon Brown's Labour Government has now lost any moral authority."

Former soldier Cllr David Simpson added, "People who are willing to die for our country, should be allowed to live in our country. The Government must now listen to Parliament and scrap these shameful rules immediately and grant justice without conditions to all retired Gurkhas."