Labour MPs have been accused of “covering up” the details of Sir Keir Starmer’s Chagos deal after a motion led by Kemi Badenoch was roundly defeated in the House of Commons.
Badenoch’s motion called for a choronology of negotiations between the UK and Mauritius.
It also demanded details on departmental budgets to cover the costs of the arrangement and explain the under-fire Attorney General Lord Hermer’s role in negotiations.
The vote came after Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick yesterday released a seven-minute takedown video against the Chagos deal, labelling the proposed accord a “betrayal of Britain”.
However, Starmer could face a challenge to his Chagos “surrender deal” from Donald Trump.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy admitted last night that the US President holds a final veto on the Indian Ocean archipelago.
Speaking ahead of Starmer’s crunch meeting with the US President in the White House, Lammy told ITV: “If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward and the reason for that is because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States and of course they’ve got to be happy with the deal or there is no deal.”
The Prime Minister is expected to “confront” the 47th President over his response to the war in Ukraine, with Starmer this week announcing a defence spending hike to curb Russia’s influence.
However, critics of his Chagos deal claim that handing over the Indian Ocean archipelago to Beijing-backed Mauritius could provide China with a significant outpost.
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Starmer warns Putin will attack again if Trump does not underwrite Ukrainian peace
Vladimir Putin will attack again unless America agrees to underwrite the security of Ukraine after a peace deal has been signed, Sir Keir Starmer has warned.
The Prime Minister also made clear that he was considering deploying British troops as part of a wider European force in Ukraine but it would be a decision “not taken lightly” and relied on continued involvement of US forces in the country.
The issue of the backstop offered to Ukraine will be a key part of talks between Starmer and US President Donald Trump on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters en route to Washington DC, Starmer said: “The reason I say the backstop is so important is that the security guarantee has to be sufficient to deter Putin from coming again because my concern is if there is a ceasefire without a backstop, it will simply give him the opportunity to wait and to come again because his ambition in relation to Ukraine is pretty obvious.”