British lawmakers dealt a surprise defeat Wednesday to government plans for Gurkha immigration rights, after critics pressed London to make it easier for the Nepalese veterans to settle here.
A parliamentary motion to scrap new rules on settlement rights for Gurkhas was backed by 267 to 246 votes in the House of Commons, after opposition MPs secured backing from colleagues in the ruling Labour party. "Today is an historic day when parliament took the right decision. The government now have got to come back with immediate proposals," said David Cameron, the leader of the main opposition Conservatives.
Indian-born British actress Joanna Lumley, who has spearheaded the campaign, also welcomed the surprise vote along with Nick Clegg of the second opposition party, the Liberal Democrats. "Just before this vote was taken our spirits were nearly at zero," said Lumley.
"When it came through... I can't tell you the sense of elation, the sense of pride - pride in our country, pride in the democratic system and pride in our parliament," she added. The vote is a rare parliamentary defeat for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and will be seen as a major embarrassment even if it has no legal force. Just hours earlier Brown had insisted his government had given "justice to the Gurkhas", but conceded there were financial concerns due to the economic slowdown.
As part of rules announced last week, Britain would only grant settlement rights to 4,300 ex-Gurkhas, far short of demands that they be given to all 36,000 Nepalese ex-soldiers who served with the British army before 1997.