Gurkha 'despair' as minister sees off MPs
Tuesday, 5 May 2009 2:30 PM
By politics.co.uk staff
Joanna Lumley has claimed she was shocked at the government's inaction following last week's Commons defeat on Gurkhas.
The actress and campaigner's comments came as she gave evidence to the home affairs committee, which had been hearing from immigration minister Phil Woolas.
He told MPs the government was committed to clearing the backlog of 1,500 applicants by the end of May.
And he insisted an analysis of disputed figures over how many Gurkhas would be eligible for entry would be completed by the end of June.
Mr Woolas insisted the desire to allow Gurkhas into the country had to be balanced with "restrictions" of "finance and law".
"You cannot play politics with the law or with the money," he said. "Political populism doesn't change the facts."
Last week the government suffered only its fourth defeat over whether Gurkhas who retired before 1997 deserved full settlement rights in Britain.
Labour MP Martin Salter was particularly critical of the government's stance. "It's impossible to conceive that the government could have made a bigger pig's ear of this," he said.
Ms Lumley, having listened to Mr Woolas' evidence, expressed her own frustration after ministers had departed.
She accused the government of using "scare tactics" when citing a potential figure for new Gurkha settlers in Britain of 36,000.
And she added: "We stick to our guns and say [we demand] parity with Commonwealth soldiers. I don't know who else I go to now. We've been to the high courts, we've been to the people and press, we've even been to the parliament. If that's not enough, where do we go to?"
During the session Ms Lumley revealed she had received a letter of support from a senior member of the royal family. She declined to say which one.
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