Sir Keir Starmer has warned national security could be put at risk without a deal to give “legal certainty” over the status of the Chagos Islands and the strategically important Diego Garcia military base.
The UK has denied the cost of handing over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius could rise to £18 billion and disputed claims made by the Mauritian prime minister about the renegotiated deal.
Sir Keir’s Government plans to hand the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius but pay to lease back the US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.
(PA Graphics)
The Government argues that international legal rulings on sovereignty over the archipelago mean the UK has to cede the islands to Mauritius.
At Prime Minister’s Questions – in response to Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s claim the plan is an “immoral surrender” – Sir Keir said Diego Garcia is “vital to our national security” but “a number of years ago the legal certainty of that base was thrown into doubt”.
“Without legal certainty, the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should,” he told MPs.
“That is bad for our national security and it’s a gift for our adversaries.”
Sir Keir pointed out to Mrs Badenoch that negotiations on sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory began under the Conservatives and said “some within the party opposite know exactly what I’m talking about”.
The secretive base is used by nuclear-capable US bombers and nuclear-powered submarines.
Sir Keir suggested Mrs Badenoch has not been fully briefed about the issues and has not requested a briefing on the Chagos Islands from him.
“If the Leader of the Opposition is properly briefed on the national security implications, when she is asking these questions – which she is perfectly entitled to do – then she knows exactly what I am talking about in terms of national security and legal certainty.
“If, on the other hand, she is not properly briefed on the national security implications, she is not doing her job, she’s not concerned about national security and she’s not fit to be prime minister.”
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch challenged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the Chagos deal (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA)
A deal to hand over the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius was reached with the previous Mauritian government.
But the current Mauritian prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, told his country’s National Assembly on Tuesday that he has rewritten the deal to ensure payments from the UK rise in line with inflation and to give his country an effective veto on extending the terms of the agreement beyond 99 years.
He suggested not linking payments to inflation would have halved the amount heading from UK taxpayers to Mauritian coffers.
The UK has denied reports that the deal to lease back Diego Garcia would originally cost £90 million a year for 99 years, or almost £9 billion – which, if the cost doubled, would rise to £18 billion.
The Foreign Office also insisted there has been “no change” to the terms for the extension.
Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty told MPs: “The comments of the prime minister of Mauritius are for him to make. There has been no change to the substance of the deal, nor the overall quantum agreed.
“We believe we have achieved a deal that’s in the interests of the UK and Mauritius and, indeed, of the United States and our allies.”
The deal to give up sovereignty and lease back the base was backed by former US president Joe Biden, but Donald Trump’s administration has not yet given its support.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, an ally of the US president, told MPs the future of Diego Garcia has not been “high on their agenda” in the early days of the new administration.
But, he warned, “when the Americans wake up to the fact that this has been done wholly unnecessarily” the Trump government could respond with tariffs on UK goods.
He argued that the International Court of Justice’s advisory decision on sovereignty in 2019 has “no force of legal power whatsoever”.