Sue Farrant welcomes High Court ruling on Gurkhas
Tuesday, September 30th, 2008
Sue Farrant with Gurkha campaigners
Dr Sue Farrant, Parliamentary Candidate for West Dorset Liberal Democrats, welcomed today’s High Court ruling in favour of retired Gurkha soldiers who want to settle in the UK.
Sue Farrant has been a strong supporter of the campaign to over-turn the government’s current policy on Gurkha veterans which she described as, ‘irrational and shameful’. Gurkhas retiring after 1997 with at least five years’ service have the right to settle in the UK. Those who retired before that date have no automatic right to stay and instead each application is decided by immigration officers.
Dr Sue Farrant, herself a retired Army officer, recently met Gurkha veterans, wives and widows and was moved by their tremendous loyalty towards this country.
She said today, “This is an important victory but it is only the first battle, not the whole war. The Home Secretary has today promised to review the cases of some 2,000 ex-Gurkha soldiers and to review this irrational and shameful guidance. We must keep up the pressure to make sure the government doesn’t wriggle out of what the judge called ‘a moral debt of honour’ to these brave men.”
