Starmer’s Chagos deal descends into chaos

Sir Keir Starmer’s Chagos bill descended into farce on Wednesday amid confusion over whether ministers had paused the process to give away the islands to Mauritius.

Hamish Falconer, a Foreign Office minister, told MPs that the Government was “pausing for discussions with our American counterparts” after Donald Trump criticised the deal. However, Downing Street and the Foreign Office later reversed his statement.

Sir Keir has struck a deal with Mauritius to give away the islands and rent back Diego Garcia, a joint US-UK military base there, at a cost of £35bn over a century.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Falconer said legislation to implement the deal in UK law would be “paused” while ministers discussed it with Mr Trump, who urged Sir Keir last week not to “give away” the base.

“There clearly has been a statement from the president of the US more recently which is very significant, and as I told the House we are now discussing those concerns with the US directly,” he said.

“I can assure this House nothing in the treaty has changed since the US administration gave their original endorsement of the deal, and we continue to work with Mauritius and the United States.”

However, Downing Street and the Foreign Office later changed course, arguing that Mr Falconer “misspoke” in Parliament and that there was “no pause” because “we have never set a deadline”.

The Chagos legislation has passed through Parliament more slowly than ministers hoped, amid opposition from peers and three about-turns on the issue from Mr Trump.

The bill was tabled last year, then pulled from the House of Lords last month after Mr Trump said the deal was an act of “great stupidity”.

After lobbying from UK officials and the US intelligence community, Mr Trump reversed his position on Feb 5, writing that the deal was “the best [Sir Keir] could make”.

Ministers had intended to bring the legislation back to Parliament with his endorsement within days, but were forced to delay it again last week when Mr Trump changed his mind again, arguing that “this land should not be taken away from the UK” in a “blight on our great ally”.

The British government has said it will not proceed with the deal without the support of the White House, because of the importance of the shared military base on the islands.

Officials have 11 weeks to push the bill through its remaining stages in the Commons and Lords before the end of the current Parliamentary session, when they will be forced to start again.

Ministers are under pressure from Mauritius to ratify the deal, which was supposed to be in force from the end of 2025.

The Government has agreed to pay Mauritius hundreds of millions of pounds a year in the first five years after the treaty is ratified. The country is facing a budget crisis and plans to use the UK’s payments to pay off the national debt and cut taxes.

A government spokesman said: “There is no pause. We have never set a deadline.

“Timings will be announced in the usual way. We are continuing discussions with the US, and we have been clear we will not proceed without their support.”

Separately, Nigel Farage revealed to MPs on Wednesday that the Maldives is considering a legal challenge to the Chagos deal to prevent Mauritius from taking control of the islands.

The Maldives also has a territorial claim on the archipelago, and is thought to want them to remain under British ownership rather than passing to a rival Indian Ocean island state.

Mr Farage, who has just returned from a trip to the Maldives, said the UK was “just a few days away, in my opinion, from the Maldives issuing a counterclaim to the International Court of Justice to say if anybody has the right to the sovereignty of those islands, it is the Maldives and not Mauritius, and I would urge you to pause all of this”.

The handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius followed an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice in 2019 declaring that the UK’s sovereignty was unlawful.

Mr Farage visited the Maldives on Monday, after attempting to travel to the Chagos Islands last weekend.

He was blocked from reaching Ile du Coin, where Chagossians have established a settlement in defiance of Sir Keir Starmer and his plans to cede sovereignty of the islands.

The announcement of a pause on Wednesday had been welcomed by Chagossian leaders. Misley Mandarin, the Chagossian first minister, hailed Mr Trump’s “vital intercession” and said: “Sir Keir Starmer has once again paused his attempt to hand over my homeland to Mauritius without the permission of my people.

“Thanks to the valiant efforts of supporters of the Chagossian cause, and the vital intercession of President Trump, he has been forced to reconsider his ill-considered treaty with Mauritius.

“Any change to the status of the Chagos Islands must respect the wishes and self-determination of the Chagossian people.”

Since giving his approval to the deal, Mr Trump has been relentlessly lobbied by prominent Republicans against it.

John Kennedy, a Republican senator for Louisiana, is understood to have been among those who raised the issue with senior members of the administration, including Marco Rubio, the secretary of state.

Also credited with putting the deal in the president’s in-tray are Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, and Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader.

Mr Trump said Diego Garcia was crucial for possible air strikes on Iran, which experts predict could take place within days, despite peace talks scheduled for Thursday.

The US does not need consent to use Diego Garcia, but must ask the UK Government before using RAF bases. It is thought that Sir Keir blocked Mr Trump from using RAF bases to carry out an assault on Iran.

Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said the deal “undermines our national security and that of our allies, including the United States”.

Speaking from Washington, she said: “I am pleased the UK Government has been forced to pause the legislation. But ministers must go further.

“Now it is time for Keir Starmer to face reality and kill this shameful surrender once and for all before it does any more damage.”

[Source: Daily Telegraph]