Gurkha Pensions

Matthew Pennycook Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2021 Westminster Hall

[Mrs Maria Miller (Basingstoke) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Huq. I thank the Petitions Committee for making time for the debate, and my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North (Jonathan Gullis) for eloquently leading it. I agree with many of the things he said. For time’s sake, I will not repeat most of them, but I particularly agree on making sure that our relationship with Nepal, as well as the Gurkhas, is as strong as it can be. He underlined our support for them around the covid pandemic.

Gurkhas have made an outstanding contribution to the UK over many years of dedicated service, and they are rightly held in high esteem by the British Army and the British public. I have had the honour of meeting many Gurkha veterans in my constituency, because we have one of the larger Nepalese communities in the UK, being just down the road from Aldershot, the constituency of my hon. Friend the Minister for Defence People and Veterans. I also had the opportunity to meet Gurkha soldiers during my time in the armed forces parliamentary scheme. Although I do not have the years under my belt of some esteemed Members here who served in the armed forces, having met some of those soldiers at first hand in conflict zones, I understand their tenacity and resilience, which was writ large.

My constituency is proud of its large Nepalese community; many are Gurkha veterans who served our country bravely and whose families decided to make the UK their home. Gurkha veterans and their wider families play a central role in Basingstoke, including at civic events like Remembrance Sunday very recently, demonstrating the importance of remembering the contribution of people across the globe to protecting our way of life on these shores.

More than 700 people in Basingstoke signed the petition for today’s debate. I thank the Petitions Committee for the opportunity to underline the importance of fairness in how we support every member and former member of the British armed forces. Fairness in pensions and in the way we treat Gurkhas at the end of their military career has been central to the many conversations and meetings I have had with my constituents who have Nepalese heritage over a number of years.

[Matthew Pennycook (Greenwich and Woolwich) (Lab)]

On fairness, does the right hon. Lady agree that, when we are talking about the need for pension parity, we are talking about not just Gurkha veterans themselves, but widows and other family members, who number in their many thousands, including in south east London? When looking at welfare in the round and at what the bilateral committee might look into, widows in receipt of the GPS must be at the forefront of the Government’s mind.

[Mrs Miller]

The hon. Member has pointed out the complexities of the discussions that will take place in the coming weeks. I am sure the Minister heard his remark and perhaps he will pick up on it later on. The welfare of all veterans, including Gurkhas, could not be more important, and welfare is, of course, at the heart of the armed forces covenant, brought in by this Government to ensure the best support for those who have done so much for our country.