News Date: Thursday 30th April 2009
A Fairer Deal For The Ghurkas
My party wants to be fair to the Gurkhas in contrast to the Government’s approach and its response to the recent High Court ruling which, in our opinion, has not been. We have already said that we would introduce a limit on visas allowed generally under the Points-Based System, to ensure that those who come here benefit British society. We believe that former Gurkhas, and other veterans who are not UK nationals, have already contributed to our society, and have therefore earned the presumption that they should be allowed to come here.
A Conservative Government would establish the presumption that pre-1997 Gurkhas should be allowed to settle in the UK if that is their wish. To enable this to happen within the terms of our proposed immigration policy, we would create a new tier within the Points-Based System, which each year would allow a specified number of visas for non-UK ex-servicemen. We will conduct research to see how much demand there is for such visas. This policy would be fair to our veterans, particularly the Gurkhas, consistent with our proposals for a controlled immigration policy, and affordable within the welfare budget.
We are concerned that the Government has failed to plan for the numbers expected to move to the UK over the next few years. Any significant migration has an effect on public services and infrastructure and this tends to be concentrated in particular areas. This is why our properly controlled system will not only enable the UK to be fair to its former Gurkhas but will enable the public finances to cope and local authorities to plan service provision properly.
The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, along with several Labour MPs, voted on 29 April against the Government’s position on this issue. For the first time since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, his Government was defeated in a Commons vote. David Cameron described this as “a historic day when Parliament took the right decision. Gordon Brown has misjudged the mood of the public about the Gurkhas. The Government has been in power for a long time and has lost touch with public opinion”.
The Government was forced to accept that public and political opinion is against them and announced that they would review their policies towards the Gurkhas. My colleague Damian Green MP, Shadow Immigration Minister, welcomed this commitment, but made it clear that it would be unacceptable for the Government to continue to refuse the right of residency for all Gurkha soldiers. He stated that “The underlying reason why the Government is having to behave in such an unfair and ungenerous way to this group of people is that its overall immigration policy has been out of control for so many years.”
The Conservatives will continue to ask questions and put pressure on the Government to ensure justice for former Gurkha soldiers.
