Foreign Secretary David Lammy has been accused of misleading MPs over his “bonkers” agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
The draft agreement has faced a number of setbacks since it was announced in October, with Donald Trump poised to veto the deal as Mauritius demands even more concessions from the UK.
However, the latest row appears to have created a divide on Labour’s own benches.
Speaking at a Chagossian meeting at Portcullis House, Crawley MP Peter Lamb claimed there is “certainly evidence” that statements made in the Commons by the Foreign Secretary “do not appear to be true”.
David Lammy
PA
The campaign group Chagossian Voices claimed Lammy has not met with them thoroughout negotiations concerning the archipelago.
Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty reportedly met with the group twice after the accord was agreed but refused to discuss the negoations.
Doughty met with members of the Chagossian community on September 30 and October 3.
However, Foreign Office sources have insisted that officials remain in regular contact with Chagossians.
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Jean-Francois Nellan, who was present at both meetings, said the second discussion was just 10 minutes long.
Chagossians who attended the recent meeting also disagree with the Government about how Lammy considers indigenous interests.
Carl Buckley, a lawyer working with Chagossian Voices, told the meeting: “We have a Secretary of State who is on the record saying, all of these [people] have been consulted when they have not.
“There is a refusal to correct the record, there is a refusal to respond to correspondence that they have sent. There is an utter refusal to engage with these people. So their humanity, their individuality, is being ignored.
Downing Street has defended the deal around the Chagos ArchipelagoREUTERS“They were forcibly removed from their homes, but they are again being ignored now over 50 years later when we are discussing their homeland.”
Lamb added: “I’ve forwarded their [Chagossian Voices] correspondence again and asked for a response. Freedom of Information requests are going largely unanswered, the argument being national security, which I find very difficult with the questions that I was asking.”
He added: “There is certainly evidence that statements made in the house by the foreign secretary do not appear to be true.”
Clarifying the situation, a Chagossian Voices spokesman told The Independent: “There has been no engagement. We never met with Lammy. And we only spoke to Stephen Doughty after the negotiations were over.”
Foreign Secretary David LammyReutersShadow Armed Forces Mark Francois also said: “The Foreign Secretary’s benighted Chagos deal just staggers from one disaster to another. Not only are president Trump’s team clearly very unhappy with it, but now even Labour backbenchers are speaking out against it too.
“If David Lammy had any sense he would stop digging and abandon the whole bonkers plan, sooner rather than later.”
A Government spokesman said: “The negotiations were between the UK and Mauritius with our priority being to secure the full operation of the base on Diego Garcia.
“We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure this agreement reflects their interests. The UK government, under both the previous and current administration, has been engaged with Chagossians at both official and ministerial level during negotiations which first started in November 2022.
“As part of the agreement, we will finance a new trust fund for Mauritius to use in support of the Chagossian community. We will work with Mauritius to start a new programme of visits for Chagossians to the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia. And Mauritius will be free to develop a programme of resettlement on the islands, other than Diego Garcia.”