Comparison of Divisions: Gurkha Settlement Rights — Government defeat — 29 Apr 2009 at 15:49 with Division No. 201 on 28 Mar 2006 at 22:17

The majority of MPs voted in favour of the motion:^[1]

• This House
• regrets the Government's recent statement^[2] outlining the eligibility criteria for Gurkhas to reside in the United Kingdom;
• recognises the contribution the Gurkhas have made to the safety and freedom of the United Kingdom for the past 200 years;
• notes that more Gurkhas have laid down their lives for the United Kingdom than are estimated to want to live here;
• believes that Gurkhas who retired before 1997 should be treated fairly and in the same way as those who have retired since;
• is concerned that the Government's new guidelines will permit only a small minority of Gurkhas and their families to settle whilst preventing the vast majority;
• further believes that people who are prepared to fight and die for the United Kingdom should be entitled to live in the country; and
• calls upon the Government to withdraw its new guidelines immediately and bring forward revised proposals that extend an equal right of residence to all Gurkhas.

As a consequence, the alternative Government motion, which read:^[3]

• This House
• recognises that this Government is the only one since the Second World War to allow Gurkhas and their families settlement rights to the United Kingdom;
• notes that in 2004 the Government permitted settlement rights to Gurkhas discharged since 1997, following the transfer of the Brigade HQ from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom;
• further notes that under these rules around 6,000 Gurkhas and family members have been welcomed to the UK;
• acknowledges that the court judgement of September 2008 determined that the 1997 cut-off date was fair and rational, while seeking clarification of the criteria for settlement rights for those who retired before 1997;
• further notes that on 24 April the Government published new and more generous guidelines for the settlement applications of Gurkhas who retired before 1997;
• supports this revised guidance, which will make around 10,000 Gurkhas and family members eligible to settle in the UK;
• further notes that the Government undertakes actively to inform those who may be eligible in Nepal of these changes and to review the impact of the new guidance within 12 months;
• further notes that the contribution Gurkhas have made is already recognised by pensions paid to around 25,000 Gurkhas or their widows in Nepal that allow for a good standard of living there; and
• further notes that in the year 2000 Gurkha pensions were doubled and that, earlier in April 2009, in addition to an inflationary uplift of 14 per cent., those over 80 years old received a 20 per cent. increase in their pension.

... was never voted upon.

Although this extremely rare Government defeat in an opposition day motion is not binding (has no legal force)^[4] a Government minister made a statement later in the day to bring "forward the date for the determination of the outstanding applications to the end of May."^[5]

• [1] Christopher Huhne MP, House of Commons, 29 April 2009
• [2] Phil Woollas MP, Written Ministerial Statement, 29 April 2009
• [3] Phil Woolas MP, House of Commons, 29 April 2009
• [4] Home Secretary Jacqui Smith blamed for humiliating Gurkhas defeat in the Commons, Daily Mail, 30 April 2009
• [5] Phil Woolas MP, House of Commons, 29 April 2009

Question accordingly agreed to.

27. Chargeable gains

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made amending, or making amendments connected with, the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992.

28. Income tax (interest relief: film partnership)

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made restricting the relief available under sections 353 and 362 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 in respect of certain loans to buy into partnerships carrying on trade in relation to films or other recordings.

29. Transfers of income arising from securities

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made amending section 730 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

30. Stock lending

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made for the purposes of income tax and corporation tax-

(a) in relation to stock lending arrangements, and

(b) for and in connection with treating arrangements which are not stock lending arrangements as if they were such arrangements.

31. Loan relationships etc

Resolved,

That provision may be made for the purposes of corporation tax in relation to-

(a) loan relationships, and

(b) other relationships where a company stands, or is to be treated as standing, in the position of a creditor or debtor in relation to a debt.

32. Derivative contracts

Resolved,

That provision may be made for the purposes of corporation tax in relation to derivative contracts.

33. Intangible fixed assets

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made amending Schedule 29 to the Finance Act 2002.

34. Controlled foreign companies

Resolved,

That provision may be made amending section 90 of the Finance Act 2002.

35. Transfer of assets abroad

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made amending, or making amendments connected with, Chapter 3 of Part 17 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

36. Income tax (benefits received by former owner of property)

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made amending Schedule 15 to the Finance Act 2004.

37. Leases of plant or machinery

Resolved,

That, for the purposes of income tax and corporation tax, provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made in relation to leases of plant or machinery.

38. Corporation tax (companies carrying on leasing business)

Resolved,

That, for the purposes of corporation tax, provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made in relation to any company carrying on (whether alone or in partnership) a business which consists of or includes leasing plant or machinery.

39. Insurance companies

Resolved,

That provision (including provision having retrospective effect) may be made about insurance companies.

40. Income tax (settlements)

Resolved,

That provision may be made in relation to settlors, beneficiaries and trustees of settlements.

41. Investment reliefs (limits on value of gross assets of issuers of shares etc)

Resolved,

That-

(1) In section 293(6A) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 ("ICTA")-

(a) in paragraph (a), for "£15 million" there shall be substituted "£7 million", and

(b) in paragraph (b), for "£16 million" there shall be substituted "£8 million".

(2) In paragraph 8(1) of Schedule 28B to ICTA-

(a) in paragraph (a), for "£15 million" there shall be substituted "£7 million", and

(b) in paragraph (b), for "£16 million" there shall be substituted "£8 million".

(3) In paragraph 22(1) and (2) of Schedule 15 to the Finance Act 2000-

(a) in paragraph (a), for "£15 million" there shall be substituted "£7 million", and

(b) in paragraph (b), for "£16 million" there shall be substituted "£8 million".

(4) Paragraphs (1) and (3) of this Resolution have effect in relation to shares issued on or after 6th April 2006, subject to paragraphs (5) and (6) of this Resolution.

(5) Neither of paragraphs (1) and (3) of this Resolution has effect in relation to shares issued on or after 6th April 2006 to a person who subscribed for them before 22nd March 2006.

(6) Paragraph (1) of this Resolution does not have effect in relation to shares issued on or after 6th April 2006 to the managers of an investment fund approved for the purposes of section 311 of ICTA by the Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs if-

(a) the fund was approved before 22nd March 2006,

(b) investments in the fund have been accepted before 6th April 2006, and

(c) the shares are issued to the managers as nominee for an individual who has (whether or not before 6th April 2006) invested in the fund.

(7) Paragraph (2) of this Resolution has effect in relation to relevant holdings issued on or after 6th April 2006, subject to paragraph (8) of this Resolution.

(8) Paragraph (2) of this Resolution does not have effect for the purpose of determining whether any shares or securities acquired by a company ("the trust company") by means of the investment of protected money are, for the purposes of section 842AA of ICTA, to be regarded as comprised in qualifying holdings of the company at any time.

(9) In paragraph (8) of this Resolution "protected money" means-

(a) money raised by the issue before 6th April 2006 of shares in or securities of the trust company, or

(b) money derived from the investment by the trust company of any such money.

And it is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

42. Venture capital trusts (relief from income tax)

Resolved,

That provision may be made amending Schedule 15B to the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

43. Venture capital trusts (meaning of"investments")

Resolved,

That provision may be made amending the meaning of "investments" for the purposes of approvals, and withdrawals of approvals, under section 842AA of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

44. Securities and securities options

Resolved,

That-

(1) Section 420 of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 shall be amended as follows.

(2) In subsection (1)(f), at the beginning there shall be inserted "options and".

(3) In subsection (5)(e), at the beginning there shall be inserted "securities".

(4) In subsection (8), in the definition of "securities option", after "acquire securities" there shall be inserted "other than a right to acquire securities which is acquired pursuant to a right or opportunity made available under arrangements the main purpose (or one of the main purposes) of which is the avoidance of tax or national insurance contributions".

(5) The amendments made by this Resolution shall have effect in relation to options acquired on or after 2nd December 2004; but paragraph (4) shall also have effect in relation to an option acquired before that date where something is done on or after that date as part of the arrangements under which it was made available.

And it is hereby declared that it is expedient in the public interest that this Resolution should have statutory effect under the provisions of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act 1968.

45. PAYE (retrospective notional payments)

Resolved,

That provision may be made for and in connection with facilitating the operation of pay as you earn in relation to notional payments treated by any Act as made before the date on which the Act is passed.

46. Alternative finance

Resolved,

That provision may be made-

(a) amending, and permitting amendment of, Chapter 5 of Part 2 of the Finance Act 2005, and

(b) about the treatment of alternative finance arrangements as loans to employees.

47. Corporation tax (nuclear decommissioning)

Motion made, and Question put,

That provision may be made amending Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Energy Act 2004.

The House divided: Ayes 320, Noes 73.