Reading MPs Honour Gurkha Veterans in London

The MPs for Reading attended a Gurkha Remembrance Service in Whitehall to honour Gurkha veterans.

Gurkhas from Nepal have served in the British Armed Forces since 1815 and fought in the First and Second World Wars, the Falklands in 1982, and in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Reading has a large Nepali community after many Gurkha veterans settled there when the government allowed their migration in 2004.

Matt Rodda, the Labour MP for Reading Central, joined veterans at the Gurkha Memorial statue outside the Ministry of Defence to lay wreaths.

He said: "It was a privilege to attend the Gurkha Remembrance Service in Whitehall. This was a very moving and powerful show of support for our Gurkhas and I was proud to take part with the defence minister, Lord Coaker, my colleagues Liv Bailey and Yuan Yang, Chandra Budhathoki of the Forgotten British Gurkha Charity, Reading Borough Councillor Pratikshya Gurung and other local Gurkhas."

The service was held on the morning of Wednesday, November 4. It was also attended by Olivia Bailey, the Labour MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, Yuan Yang, Chandra Budhathoki of the Forgotten British Gurkha Charity, and Reading councillor Pratikshya Gurung, a member of the Nepalese community who was elected as a Labour councillor for Battle ward in May.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter