Was Lumley campaign good for Gurkhas?

[Gerald]

Ragprasad Purja (right) says he is forever grateful to Joanna Lumley

Two years ago actress Joanna Lumley helped Gurkhas who retired before 1997 win the right to settle in the UK. Gurkha welfare groups and the Home office estimate that about 8,000 former soldiers and their families have since moved to Britain. But many have struggled in the UK, as the BBC's Alastair Lawson reports.

Nowhere can the influx of Gurkhas into Britain be more clearly seen than in the British military town of Aldershot.

The local authority estimates that one in 10 of the town's 90,000 residents comes from Nepal - many as a direct result of the campaign Ms Lumley helped lead.

If the British Gurkha Welfare Society (BGWS) is to be believed, Joanna Lumley's campaign has been a disaster, resulting in thousands of elderly and infirm Gurkha pensioners - most unable to speak English - living in poor accommodation and relying on state handouts to survive.

The actress herself has broken a strictly-observed silence over criticisms of her campaign to release a statement to the BBC.

"Our campaign had moral right on our side," the statement said, "and the vast majority of the British public wanted the government to amend the law to allow Gurkhas to settle in the UK.

"Debts of honour are not easy to translate or quantify into pounds and pence, and some MPs have criticised our campaign for not considering the potential financial impact on the exchequer. Yet the government did consider this at the time, and decided that our campaign arguments vanquished the issues of pure cost."

Ms Lumley's supporters insist that her campaign successfully reversed decades of discrimination against older Gurkhas who fought for the British army yet were denied the right to retire in the UK.

But the BGWS argues that it would be far more cost-effective if retired Gurkhas were paid better pensions and encouraged to stay in Nepal rather than pursue the more expensive option of emigrating to the UK to take advantage of state pensions, housing benefit and free health care.

The organisation says that from the outset its campaign has been different from that waged by Ms Lumley and her supporters - it argued that fair pensions and the right of former Gurkhas to retire in the UK were equally important, whereas the emphasis of her campaign was on resettlement rights.

About 25,000 Gurkhas who retired before 1997 still get only about a third of the amount of pension received by their British and Commonwealth former comrades, despite winning the right to live in Britain.

In 2007, the pension rules were changed to give Gurkha soldiers who retired after 1997 equal pension rights with other UK service personnel.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13372026


Note: 30 July 2011 Last updated at 23:09 GMT

[Jimbuna]

Yes.....what do you think?

[Stealhead]

I think it is fair they served just like the British citizens that served
they should get the same pensions if they want to stay in England.I do agree with the idea of encouraging them to live in Nepal but only if they want to they should not be forced.

I think they might be more attracted to going back to Nepal Im sure the pension they get would allow them to live nicely there and have their own business even if they wanted.

This is interesting to me as in the US if a foreign national(there are actually many in our military)serves for I think it is 4 years they are able to become a naturalized citizen after they take
the test and oath and many of them stay in the military for much longer after they gained citizenship.I guess they do not do this in England?

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

Yes.....what do you think?

Are they remain in the UK, so it is reasonable to give them the same benefits as others, but they will move, then it's a totally different situation.

Are they remain in the UK, so it is reasonable to give them the same benefits as others, but they will move, then it's a totally different situation.

Why?
If a British ex-serviceman decided to ...I don't know....buy Greece perhaps and move there, should he have his pension cut?

[Gerald]

Can you afford to buy Greece, you need no pension,

Can you afford to buy Greece, you need no pension

So if an ex-serviceman has money he must lose the pension he earned.
Well done vendor