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    Gurkhas

    29th April 2009

    Edward Garnier writes to his constituents to set out the Conservative Party's position on the Gurkhas and their right to remain in the United Kingdom.

    I hope you do not mind my sending you this impersonal reply but I have had so many letters and emails about the Gurkhas' immigration issue that I am sending this single response to all those constituents who have contacted me about the question of the rights of Gurkhas who left the service before 1997 to settle in this country.

    We Conservatives believe that the Government's response to a High Court decision disallowing their previous policy is unfair and ungenerous. The Government has set a new range of restrictive criteria for settlement, which would deny the vast majority of Gurkhas any chance of coming to the UK.

    We want to be fair to the Gurkhas. We have already said that we would introduce a limit on visas allowed under the Points- Based System, to ensure that those who come here benefit British society. We believe that former Gurkhas, and other foreign-born ex-service personnel, have already contributed to our society, and have therefore earned the right to come here.

    A Conservative Government would allow pre-1997 Gurkhas the right to settle in the UK. 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. The vast majority of those who have already come here from Nepal have proved exemplary workers and members of society, and we are sure that new arrivals of working age would prove the same.

    We believe there are some technical problems with the motion before the House today but nevertheless we will be supporting it.

    Yours sincerely,

    Edward Garnier

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