Proceeding contribution from David Cairns (Labour) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 29 April 2009. It occurred during Opposition day on Gurkha Settlement Rights.
Gurkha Settlement Rights
We all honour the past service of the Gurkhas, and I have a great deal of sympathy with the cause that has been put forward—with one important caveat about which I hope the hon. Gentleman can lay my fears to rest: the implications for future recruitment from Nepal. He will know that the current Maoist Government of Nepal were elected on a manifesto commitment to stop Gurkha recruitment to the UK Army. They performed a U-turn at a meeting with UK parliamentarians in Kathmandu, at which I was present, but it is a very shaky U-turn. If a large number of people leave Nepal, and there is the impact that my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew) mentioned, it could flip the Nepalese Government back into stopping the recruitment of Gurkhas to the British Army. Will the hon. Gentleman tell me clearly what discussions he has had with the Government of Nepal, or their representatives, about whether changes—[Interruption.] Opposition Members are laughing; they do not think that this situation has any impact on the 12th poorest country in the world. What discussions—
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 491 c907
- Session
- 2008-09
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Armed forces Immigration Gurkhas
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on www.publications.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2024-04-21 11:26:05 +0100
- URI
- http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_552181
- In Indexing
- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_552181
- In Solr
- https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_552181