Gurkha veterans will, for the first time, have an opportunity today (Tues 4 November) to speak for themselves in Parliament when they give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in the morning and address the inaugural meeting of the new All Party Parliamentary Group on Gurkha’s Rights in the afternoon.

Ex-Gurkhas from Reading and Aldershot will be giving evidence alongside their solicitors who won the landmark case in the High Court on September 30^th which declared that the current Home Office policy was unlawful. Currently only Gurkhas retired or discharged from the Army after 1^st July 1997 are eligible to claim settlement rights in the U.K. The Home Office must now revise its policy and review all new applications for settlement. An announcement from the Home Office is expected shortly.

The invitation to the Gurkhas to give evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee was proposed by Martin Salter MP, who is also one of the founder members of the new APPG on Gurkha Rights along with Ann Widdecombe (Conservative) and Bob Russell (Lib Dem).

Mr Salter said:-

“It is just plain wrong that the British Government offers settlement rights to Foreign and Commonwealth citizens who have served four or more years in the British Army but not to the Gurkhas. The 1997 cut off date makes no sense as the High Court ruled and now there is a wonderful opportunity to put right an historic injustice and to acknowledge the debt of honour we owe to these fighting men”.