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The Government has today (24 April) relaxed immigration restrictions for Nepalese veterans of the country's armed forces which would allow about 4,000 more Gurkhas who retired before 1997 to live permanently in Britain.

But Damian Collins, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Folkestone and Hythe has blasted the Government decision claiming it was a disgrace.

Gurkha soldiers said the new policy was still too limited and imposed too many conditions on those seeking the right to settle in the UK.

The rules announced today say the Gurkha veterans who retired before 1997, more than 30,000, according to government estimates, can settle automatically if certain conditions are met.

Damian Collins said: “The High Court ruled last year that all Gurkhas ex-servicemen should have the right to settle in the UK. The Government is denying them this right. It has also put in place a series of complex criteria to apply to settle in Britain designed to put people off trying.

“I believe that we should have one simple rule, that if the Gurkha servicemen have been prepared to die for Britain, they should also have the right to live in Britain.

“The Government claims that over 100,000 Gurkhas could move to Britain is we allowed this to happen, a number which the Gurkhas dispute. But even if this were true it would still be small compared to the 170,000 people who were granted the right to settle in Britain last year by the Home Office, and the hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers who are unregistered and here illegally.”

Immigration Minister Phil Woolas said it was unrealistic for Gurkha advocates to think that the government could allow all those who served before 1997 to settle in Britain.

"It has never been the case that all Gurkhas pre-1997 were going to be allowed to settle in this country. Were we to do that, with their dependents, you could be looking at up to 100,000 people," Woolas said.