Fantastic victory for our local Gurkha veterans

Following the announcement today by the Home Secretary that all Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997 with at least four years' service will be allowed to settle in the UK, Alok Sharma the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Reading West said: "Along with everyone who has supported the Gurkhas' campaign for fair settlement rights I am absolutely delighted at this announcement which will bring a great deal of joy and relief to our local Gurkha veterans living in Reading and West Berkshire."

Alok continued: "This has been a brilliant campaign lead by the redoubtable Joanna Lumley and with support from across the political spectrum. The Government has finally listened to the voice of Parliament and the voices of the British people but this result could have come much sooner had Ministers used a bit of common sense and applied the British sense of fair play in their decision making process."

Alok concluded: "Everyone involved with the campaign in Reading can feel justly proud of what has been achieved, especially the 2,500 Reading people who signed the petition calling for fair settlement rights which we presented, together with some of our local Gurkha veterans, at 10 Downing Street. All their voices have finally been heard.