Premiership of Gordon Brown into further talks over the issue. Finally, after a Commons Home Affairs Committee meeting between campaigners, the Ministry of Defence and the Home Office on 19 May, Brown announced to the House of Commons on 20 May that the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith would make a statement on the issue the following day. Smith subsequently announced that all Gurkha veterans who had served four years or more in the British Army before 1997 would be allowed to settle in Britain. In the days following the release and high-profile return to Libya of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi in August 2009, speculation
Lockerbie railway station continued until 1966, when the line fell victim to the Beeching Axe. Except Lockerbie all other local stations on the main line between Carlisle and Carstairs closed during the 1960s. The first electrically-operated passenger services operated by British Rail in May 1974 when the West Coast Main Line electrification project between Crewe & Glasgow was completed. Services northwards to Glasgow and Edinburgh were suspended in January 2016 and replaced by buses, whilst major repairs were carried out the River Clyde viaduct at Lamington that was damaged by Storm Frank. Trains resumed on 22 February 2016. Lockerbie station is managed by