Harrow Council backs Gurkhas' rights campaign

Councillors are supporting the campaign for Gurkhas' rights and encouraging the public to get behind the ex-servicemen.

Harrow Council has put forward a motion that will urge local MPs to support the campaign and write to the Prime Minister to demand help for retired British Gurkhas.

Labour group head Bill Stephenson, council leader David Ashton (Conservative) and the Liberal Democrats' head Chris Noyce have all backed the plans.

The council is also asking its chief executive Michael Lockwood to look sympathetically at street collections in aid of the ex-servicemen who have been suffering financially.

Mayor of Harrow Councillor John Nickolay said: "I hope we are speaking for 99-100 per cent of the public when I say the Gurkhas are so grateful for what they do have and that they deserve to be treated with respect.

"They are from Nepal, but they are so patriotic for Britain."

Chairman of the Royal British Legion Harrow branch John Stelfox said: "We will obviously help in any way that we can.

"We have 15 Gurkha members in the Harrow British legion and I do know a lot of them are suffering financially, so any support we can give them we will."

The motion was heard at a council meeting last Thursday.