I would like to start by thanking people for the hundreds of letters and emails that I’ve had from right across Reading wishing me well following my announcement that I would be stepping down at the next election after 25 years of public life in Reading. People really have been most incredibly kind and generous in their comments and I will try and send everybody an individual reply when time allows. Anyway, I’m not going anywhere for the next year or so and will working hard in both Westminster and my constituency right up until the final whistle. I would also like to thank Alison Powell of the Reading Chronicle for letting me raid her kitchen cupboard for a late breakfast and for taking the trouble to put together such a nice and comprehensive feature on my time both as a councillor and as her Member of Parliament.

I’ve returned to the battle to achieve a fair deal for Gurkha soldiers who, as most people know, are discriminated against compared with other foreign nationals who fight in the British army and achieve the right to settle in the UK after four years service. We seem to be making slow but steady progress and I am now convinced that we have the Home Office on side in the battle but there still remains considerable resistance from the top brass of the army and in the Ministry of Defence.

Since 1997 the Ministry of Defence have been slow to change anything for the Gurkhas, and their assessments regarding how much granting full settlement rights would cost the taxpayer have consistently been overblown. The MOD have put forward summary estimate costs on the basis that all ex-Gurkhas will take up state benefits, housing and homelessness benefits, tax credits and child benefits, and health and education costs.

The costings put forward by the MOD are not accepted as being accurate by many MPs. In particular, I do not believe, as the MOD does, that all Gurkhas will be economically inactive once they settle in the U.K. - this seems to me to be a frankly offensive assumption. In my experience, ex-Gurkha soldiers are well skilled and highly motivated individuals who have proved themselves to be excellent employees. My job as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Gurkha Rights is to help dispel some of the myths and misinformation that have been put around by the army and the MOD for far too long in order to justify their refusal to give fair treatment for people who have put themselves in harm’s way for our country.

On Wednesday I attended a Council Housing Group inquiry which collected evidence from local authorities, tenants’ organisations, trade unions, housing professionals and academics as part of a campaign to win improvements and a long term future for council housing. The evidence will be presented to Housing Minister Margaret Beckett and fed into the national Review of Council Housing Finance. In addition, I signed a Commons Motion calling for the Government to boost the economy by investing in improving existing council homes and estates as well as building a new first-class council houses, all managed by accountable landlords. Reading should be proud that the council has retained all of its own housing stock which is managed by responsible landlords rather than arms-length companies or individuals, and I’m campaigning for better and more sustainable funding from the Government so that council housing can continue to have a future.