‘Chagos chaos’ continues as deal is put ‘on hold’
The government has put the much-contested Chagos islands deal ‘on hold’ after outcry from Labour backbenchers.
The deal would see sovereignty over the Chagos islands returned to Mauritius, but with the UK and US paying to continue military operations on the islands. The transfer is reported to cost the UK £9bn.
While President Trump has agreed to go through with the agreement, the UK government has slammed the brakes after “toxic” political backlash, according to the Times.
The decision to return the islands at a cost to the British taxpayer has been made amid welfare cuts and calls to prioritise spending on public services at home.
Shadow Armed Forces Minister, Mark Francois, told City AM: “The Government’s ‘Chagos Chaos’ continues.
“It would seem that Ministers have finally realised that paying Mauritius up to £18 billion, in order to rent back a key strategic base that belongs to us in the first place, might not be such a good idea after all – especially when their backbenchers are being asked to vote for further welfare cuts.
“If they had any sense, they would drop the whole mad idea, while they still can.”
Security concerns persist
The deal has also sparked security concerns with reports that Mauritius could be seeking a closer relationship with China. The Chagos are home to a joint UK-US military base.
This follows a meeting on Thursday between the Chinese ambassador to Mauritius, Huang Shifang, with Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam. The ambassador said that China is seeking to deepen relations between the two countries, which already have a free trade agreement in place.
Priti Patel, shadow foreign secretary, said: “Labour’s desperate plan to surrender the Chagos Islands will cost British taxpayers billions and put our security at risk. With China getting closer to Mauritius, Keir Starmer and David Lammy’s failure to defend British interests is disgraceful. When Labour negotiates, Britain loses.”
Trump’s secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has also criticised the deal, calling it “concerning as it would provide an opportunity for communist China to gain valuable intelligence on our naval support facility in Mauritius,” and would pose a “serious threat to our national security interests.”
Foreign secretary David Lammy said the deal would preserve the military base in the long term: “without security of tenure there will be no base.” Otherwise, Lammy said, a binding decision by the international court of justice meant the UK risked losing the base or breaching international law.