Lumley: Gurkha plight is a stain on our nation

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The actress, a long-standing campaigner on behalf of the soldiers, said it was "offensive" that veterans were dying or suffering in pain while the Government dithered over implementing the ruling from last September.

Lumley spoke out as she joined supporters at the High Court for a new legal bid to force the Home Office to allow up to 2,000 of the Nepalese former soldiers to settle here.

She said: "The ruling last year was clear and the way that successive governments have treated Gurkhas who retired before 1997 is truly offensive and a stain on our national character.

"These are men who have served in the British Army, sometimes for 20 years and more, and some have won our country's highest honours for valour and service."

Today's action follows September's High Court ruling which declared unlawful the Home Office's policy of denying veterans from before 1997 the right to live in the UK.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith promised to introduce a new policy but none has emerged. Campaigners say there has been wrangling in Whitehall about the likely cost.