Following his confirmation yesterday as the winning candidate in the Hampshire County Council election for Aldershot North, newly elected County Councillor Alex Crawford is making Fair and Equal Pensions for Gurkha veterans his top priority in the next few weeks.

"I am aware that the Government consider that they need do no more after their response to their response to the All-Party Parliamentary Group Inquiry on Gurkha Welfare six years ago," said Cllr Crawford.

"However, the situation has changed since that Inquiry, so I am asking Veterans Minister Leo Docherty MP to sit down with meto find a way forward that he can take up with his colleagues in Government.

"These issues are not solely of concern to the Ministry of Defence, which has responsibility for Gurkhas serving in the British Army.

"They are also of great interest to other British Government departments, such as the Treasury, the Foreign Office, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Department of Communities and Local Government, as well as the Embassy of Nepal and the Government of Nepal.

"There are many aspects to these issues, but we must never lose sight of the overriding need for fairness and equality going forward," said Cllr Crawford.