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Gurkhas

With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement on new settlement rights for former Gurkhas and their families. As the House knows, all Gurkhas who retired after July 1997, when the Brigade was relocated to the UK from Hong Kong, are already eligible to settle here under current immigration rules. Since 2004, more than 6,000 Gurkhas and their families have done so. On 29th April, hon. Members of all parties made clear their view that the Government should reconsider plans to increase by 10,000 the number of Gurkhas and family members who could come to the UK to live. As my hon. Friend the Minister for Borders and Immigration set out in his statement to the House that evening, we undertook to respect the will of the House and introduce revised proposals. I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for the work that he has led to deliver that commitment. I am also grateful to the members of the Home Affairs Committee and the Gurkhas' representatives, who have helped us to establish the basis for the proposals. Our policy will be put into effect through guidance, which we will publish shortly, having first shared it in advance with the Select Committee and Gurkha representatives to seek their views. Our new guidance will reflect the will of the House, while remaining affordable and consistent with our broader immigration policy. All former Gurkhas who retired before 1997 and who have served more than four years will now be eligible to apply for settlement in the UK. Gurkha representatives have indicated that it will take time for former Gurkhas and their families to make their applications. I welcome the willingness of the representatives to set up a form of resettlement board to assist the process of their integration into British life. On the basis of the figure of 10,000 to 15,000 main applicants that Gurkha representatives have suggested, I expect to be able to welcome them and their families over the course of the next two years. I am making resources available in the UK Border Agency to do that, and I am making it clear that there should be no time limit on those applications. The Select Committee has recommended that former Gurkhas should be entitled to bring with them their spouses and dependent children under the age of 18. I am pleased to accept that recommendation. The 1,400 or so outstanding applications for settlement that are now being considered by the UK Border Agency will be processed on the basis of the policy I am announcing today. I have instructed the UK Border Agency to process all those cases, as a matter of urgency, by 11 June, but I expect to complete the work earlier. The guidance recognises the unique nature of the service given to the UK by the Brigade of Gurkhas. It is offered to them on an exceptional basis. I hope that the House will understand the importance of maintaining the distinction, upheld by the High Court, between Gurkhas who served before and after 1997. That is why I welcome the agreement of all parties to our discussions that there is no direct read-across between settlement and pension rights. As the Chairman of the Select Committee wrote in his letter to the Prime Minister on Tuesday,""the question of equalising Gurkha pensions should not and need not be conflated with the debate about settlement"." On the basis of the measures I have set out today, I am proud now to be able to offer this country's welcome to all who have served in the Brigade of Gurkhas and who wish to apply to settle here. I am sure that all who come here will make the most of the opportunities of living and working in the UK. I am delighted that we have now been able to agree—across Government, across the House and with the Gurkhas' representatives—new settlement rights, which all those who have served us so well so highly deserve. I commend the statement to the House.