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Gurkha veterans campaining for equal assesment rights in Union Street, Aldershot
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Gordon Brown embarrassed by Gurkha vote MPs

By Pete Castle
April 30, 2009

The government has been forced into an embarrassing climbdown on its plan to restrict the number of Gurkhas who are allowed to live in the UK.

The retreat means that many more thousands of Nepalese citizens will be hoping to move to the Aldershot and Farnborough area.

In the first major defeat of Gordon Brown's government in the House of Commons, MPs voted in favour of a Liberal Democrat motion on Wednesday night to allow unlimited immigration rights to all former Gurkha soldiers.

While the vote is not legally binding, Immigration Minister Phil Woollas said after the vote that the government would respect the will of MPs and publish new Gurkha immigration guidelines in the next few months.

Hundreds of Gurkhas from across the area who travelled up to London to a rally outside Parliament reacted with elation at the news of the vote win.

However, Gurkha welfare groups sounded a note of caution. The former soldiers are still smarting at last week's Home Office guidelines that sought to limit settlement of their comrades in the UK.

Chhatra Rai, general secretary of the British Gurkha Welfare Society, based in Wren Way, Farnborough, said: "It is wonderful news. But nothing has changed here.

"We will have to wait again for the Home Office rules as they review the policy."

For more on this story, see the Aldershot News & Mail, out on Friday, May 1.

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Crawl back under your rock with the Daily Mail Paul...

dave2009
1/05/2009 at 13:34

Clearly the Gurkhas deserve more for their dedication and sacrifice than they've received so far, however I wonder how Rushmoor may cope with further population increases regardless of whether the additional people have come from other parts of the UK or indeed Nepal. It was tipped in the press yesterday that the Gurkhas and their dependents who would receive entitlement to settle would reach 100,000 if the changes were allowed. Where will they all live? Given Aldershot and Church Crookham's rich historical ties with the Gurkhas almost certainly a large proportion of them will settle in the local area.

I don't believe Rushmoor can cope with further increases in residents on this kind of scale. Anyone who's driven along Farnborough Road in either direction at any time during the day will see just how congested the area is already. 4000+ homes in the Urban Extension plus the addition of a 'minitown' on the Deepcut training ground will bring this area to a standstill and reduce the quality of life for those already here.

The Gurkhas deserve more for their dedication but please lets look at the larger picture of population increases and its impact in Rushmoor and Surrey Heath.

Daniel B
1/05/2009 at 11:12

Your article points out "The retreat means that many more thousands of Nepalese citizens will be hoping to move to the Aldershot and Farnborough area." Do we have the capacity to support this sort of number? I don't think that we do. What is wrong with Nepal anyway that none want to live there? Is it that the state benefits are not so good?