LONDON: Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered his first major parliamentary defeat today when lawmakers voted against government plans to deal with Nepalese Gurkha soldiers who want the right to settle in the country.

Lawmakers voted against a recent decision which loosened, but didn’t eliminate, immigration restrictions for the Nepalese veterans of Britain’s armed forces.

During a heated House of Commons debate, some government lawmakers joined the opposition to demand the government ease restrictions on the Gurkhas’ right

to stay in Britain.

The government says new rules announced last week will allow about 4,000 more former Gurkhas to live in Britain. But Gurkha advocates say the actual number is much smaller.

Today, 267 lawmakers voted for a motion to allow all Gurkhas equal residence rights in Britain, while 246 voted against.

Actress Joanna Lumley, who has long campaigned for the Gurkhas, said she was ecstatic.

“Just before this vote was taken our spirits were nearly at zero,” said Lumley, best known for playing Patsy in the TV comedy series “Absolutely Fabulous.”

“When it came through, we saw it on the screen and I can’t tell you the sense of elation, the sense of pride - pride in our country,

pride in the democratic system and pride in our Parliament.”

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the vote was “a victory for fairness and decency in this country.”

The vote has no legally binding effect on government policy, but Brown tried to satisfy rebel lawmakers from his own party by promising to review the government criteria.