Monday, February 10, 2025

Starmer under fire amid row over Chagos deal cost

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Paul Seddon

Political reporter

UK Parliament Sir Keir Starmer speaking at Prime Minister's QuestionsUK Parliament

Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire at PMQs after Mauritius said the UK had agreed to change payment terms in its deal to hand it control of the Chagos Islands.

It comes after Mauritian PM Navin Ramgoolam claimed the UK had now agreed to front-load the payments and change how they are calculated.

The Conservative and Reform UK leaders both attacked Sir Keir over the cost of the deal, at a time when winter fuel payments to pensioners are being scaled back.

But Sir Keir insisted it was required to secure the future of a UK-US military airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia, which the UK is due to keep on a 99-year lease.

The plan to cede sovereignty of the archipelago, known officially as the British Indian Ocean Territory, was announced last October after a deal was reached with former Mauritian leader Pravind Jugnauth.

But he was swept from power in a general election a month later, and Ramgoolam, his replacement, has criticised the initial draft.

The agreement has also been mired in uncertainty after Donald Trump’s re-election as US president, given several US Republicans have argued it could deliver a potential security boost to China.

Mauritius says it was ready to sign a deal last month – but the UK asked to press the pause button to allow Trump to examine it first.

The UK government has never confirmed the estimated cost of payments under the deal, but press reports have put the figure at £9bn.

‘Shovelling money’

Speaking in the Mauritian Parliament on Tuesday, Ramgoolam said payments, due to be made in dollars, would now be subject to a variable rather than fixed exchange rate, arguing the previous deal was not “inflation-proof”.

“What’s the point of getting money and then having half of it at the end?” he added.

He also said the UK had agreed to give up a right to unilaterally extend the lease by 40 years – something denied by the British Foreign Office, which says there has been “no change to the terms of extension”.

Both the UK and Mauritian government have said reports the effective cost of the deal had jumped from £9bn to £18bn were inaccurate, although neither side has specified an alternative figure.

Downing Street has dismissed Ramgoolam’s summary of the talks as “clearly aimed at a domestic political audience”.

But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch seized on the reports as she faced Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions, telling MPs: “Yesterday, we heard the government offered £18bn for Mauritius to take our territory in the Chagos Islands.”

Referencing July’s decision to cut winter fuel payments, a pension top-up, she added: “He’s freezing pensioners, while shovelling money to Mauritius.”

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage asked how he should justify the UK being “prepared to give away a military base and pay £18bn for the privilege” to constituents who are “losing their winter fuel allowance and feeling the pinch”.

Getty Images A plane taking off from the air base on Diego GarciaGetty Images

The US and UK militaries operate a highly secretive base from one of the islands

Mauritius, a former British colony, has long argued that it was illegally forced to give the Chagos Islands away in return for its own independence in 1968.

The UK has come under increasing international pressure to hand over control of the archipelago after various United Nations bodies, including its top court and general assembly, sided with Mauritian sovereignty claims in recent years.

The previous Conservative government opened negotiations over their legal status in late 2022, but has attacked the agreement struck by Labour.

Labour has argued that the inevitability of further rulings against the UK has put the military base in legal jeopardy.

The Tories and Reform UK have rejected this, arguing a binding judgement on the issue has not been made by international judges.

Speaking at PMQs, Sir Keir said legal uncertainty meant the base would not be able to “operate in practical terms”, although he did not say why.

He added that “some within the Conservative party” were aware of the reasons for this, and this was “why the last government started negotiations”.

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