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Gurkhas

This has been a great victory for a well run campaign, which publicly embarrassed Ministers and reminded us all of the role that the Gurkhas have played in helping to defend this country over the centuries. It is also a timely reminder of what the House can achieve when it stands up to the Executive and expresses its will about what should happen. We do not do that often enough. First and foremost, this case was about basic decency. Many people from around the world have come to live in this country in the past decade. There was never a justification for denying that right to a group of people who have long lived in the nation's affections, and who have risked, and often given, their lives for its protection. We have always been clear that those who risk their lives for this country should have the right to come and live in our country. It is just a shame that the Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming through the courts, at great cost to the taxpayer, then through the crowds of Gurkhas outside this place, before they finally accepted the inevitable. [Interruption.] The statement is also a tribute to the determined and effective campaign by Joanna Lumley to persuade Ministers to change their minds. Does the Home Secretary now finally accept that it was a massive mistake not to listen when we told her to accept the court ruling and not fight it? [Interruption.] Can she provide the House with more detail about costs? A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister was putting forward almost doomsday financial forecasts about the cost to the British taxpayer of allowing the Gurkhas to settle here. [Interruption.] ... A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister presented almost doomsday financial forecasts about the cost to the British taxpayer of allowing the Gurkhas to settle here. Will the Home Secretary now confirm that those figures were wrong? What is her current forecast? What impact will today's announcement have on former members of the armed forces who come from other Commonwealth countries or, indeed, non-Commonwealth countries? What rights does she intend to offer them in future? Let me give a clear commitment today to the Gurkhas and all those who have taken part in the campaign: you have won a great victory over this Government, but you have nothing to fear from a change of Government. If there is a Conservative Government after the next election, we will honour the agreement and ensure that the Gurkhas who want to come here are treated as honoured veterans of our armed forces, not as an unwelcome addition to the pressures on our immigration system.