Sponsored by
Lumley says Brown will do right by Gurkhas
Gurkha rights campaigner Joanna Lumley said she trusted Gordon Brown to "do the right thing" for veterans after talks with the Prime Minister.
The actress, the public face of the campaign to secure settlement rights for all the Nepalese former soldiers, said Mr Brown told her he would "come up with a new solution by the end of this month".
But Downing Street gave no indication that Mr Brown had made any such commitment.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said it remained the intention to process all current applications by the end of the month but that a new set of proposals was only expected "by the summer recess" which starts on July 21.
Mr Brown called the meeting almost a week after suffering a humiliating Commons defeat on the issue and a day after Ms Lumley accused him of failing to answer her letters on the issue.
He is under mounting pressure to abide by the vote by MPs for a Liberal Democrat motion calling for all restrictions put by the Home Office on Gurkha settlement to be dropped.
Ms Lumley declared that she had faith in him to deliver.
After the 30-minute meeting, she said: "The meeting was extremely positive. He is wholly supportive of the Gurkha cause. He is going to come up with a new solution by the end of this month.
"I do trust the Prime Minister. I know him very slightly personally and I find him to be a man of integrity."
Asked at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs) this afternoon whether he felt the Government was "bound" by last week's vote, Mr Brown said simply that he would "listen to the voice of the House".
Gurkhas who retired before 1997, when their base moved from Hong Kong to Kent, have to meet certain criteria to settle in the UK which excludes thousands of ordinary riflemen.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Leeds lose Ward to Palace: Is there anyone they can afford now?
- Sheffield Wednesday leaving it late to hijack Leeds United over Ward
- As Snodgrass dithers over Leeds, Warnock throws a lifeline
- Ball is in Leeds United’s court over contract - Snodgrass
- Police turning blind eye to Asian voter fraud, says MP
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
