Peter Swallow

I am privileged to have seen the service and sacrifice of the Gurkhas to the British Army at first hand during my visit to Brunei last year, where I had the honour of being hosted by the First Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles as part of the armed forces parliamentary scheme—a scheme that I know the Minister is a firm supporter of. The Headquarters Brigade of Gurkhas is also located at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, which I am proud to represent, though I should clarify that the headquarters itself falls just outside the constituency. Bracknell Forest is also home to a thriving Nepalese community, focused mostly around Sandhurst. In fact, Nepalese is the second most commonly spoken language in our borough after English. Every time I meet a Gurkha, or visit our armed forces and see how integral the Gurkhas are to our global reputation and our capabilities, I am reminded of the words inscribed on the Gurkha soldier memorial, not 500 yards from this Chamber. I thank the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Cameron Thomas) for reminding us of these important words. “Bravest of the brave, most generous of the generous, never had country more faithful friends than you.” As today’s debate has already demonstrated, there is rightly deep respect for Gurkhas across this House. Today is an important opportunity to recognise all that Gurkha veterans have done to defend this country’s interests and security, and to pay tribute to them for that. That is why it is only right that we respect their sacrifice and contributions in kind. I was proud recently to put my name, alongside a number of colleagues, to a letter to the Veterans Minister from my hon. Friend the Member for Aldershot (Alex Baker), who is an ardent champion for the Gurkhas. Her work on this has already been rightly highlighted today in this debate. The letter welcomed the election of a new Government in Nepal and recognised the importance of continued constructive engagement on Gurkha welfare with Nepal. I know that the Government are committed to putting the delays of previous Governments behind us and making progress where others have failed to do so. I look forward to supporting their work to achieve a fairer deal for Gurkha veterans. One area that I would particularly like to highlight, as the Government pick up our conversations with the new Government in Nepal, is the recruitment of women into the Gurkhas. I know that this is an issue that the Government have raised previously, so can I take this opportunity to ask for the Minister’s assurances that they will continue to pursue this with the new Nepalese Government? Madam Deputy Speaker, may I emphasise the will that I know exists in this place to work collaboratively with Nepal on this issue? I welcome the opportunity to continue the dialogue with the new Government and reinstate my support for efforts to find a resolution that properly recognises the enormous contribution made by Gurkhas to our country. Only then can we ever hope to begin to repay the huge debt of gratitude that we owe to our Gurkha veterans; and to be as faithful friends to them as they have been, and continue to be, to us.