Alok Sharma, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Reading West, hailed the ruling in the courts yesterday which concluded that Gurkha veterans who were refused visas to settle in the United Kingdom because they retired from the regiment before 1997 were treated unlawfully and the policy used to reject them was misleading.

Alok said: "This is an historic victory for the brave Gurkha veterans who have served British interests so loyally over many generations and also a victory for all those people who have supported the Gurkhas' fight for justice including the over 2,500 local people in Reading and West Berkshire who signed the petition we organised and delivered to Gordon Brown's door step at 10 Downing Street earlier this year."

Alok continued: "Having sat in court with the Gurkha veterans during the court hearing earlier in September I know how strongly people have felt about the way the British Government has treated the Gurkhas and it is a shame it had to take a court ruling to force the Government to recognise the debt it ows to the Gurkha veterans. I very much hope that the Government will review all pending cases, including those of veterans living locally in the Reading area, as quickly as possible."