Sir Keir Starmer’s new treaty handing over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius was condemned as a “cowardly surrender” and a “fundamental betrayal” of Britain.
The Prime Minister signed the deal with Mauritius on Thursday afternoon after months of controversial negotiations and a last-minute delay by the courts. It will see the UK hand over the overseas territory to Mauritius which will then lease back the UK-US military base at Diego Garcia for 99 years.
But the PM insisted he had to do the deal due to international law and claimed the UK would have faced immediate threats to the base’s operations without it. He claimed the agreement will cost £3.4billion, with an average spend of £101million each year, insisting this is “very good value for money” given the base’s geography and capability.
However, this figure was torn apart by critics, who argued the cost will be closer to £30billion in real terms over its lifetime.
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Minister grilled on US involvement in Chagos deal
The US pays “many multiples more” to operate the US-UK joint military base on the Chagos Islands than the UK will pay to Mauritius to maintain control of it, a minister has said.
Armed forces minister Luke Pollard was asked why the US is not contributing to the cost of leasing back the Diego Garcia military base.
“What we are bringing to the deal is the real estate, the UK will be leasing the base and the Americans pay for the operating costs of the base – now that is many multiples more than the leasing cost,” he told Times Radio.
He said the deal will protect the UK’s right to “operate without restriction” from the base and maintain the partnership there between the US and UK.
Chagos deal ‘good value’, minister insists
The Chagos Islands deal is “good value”, the armed forces minister has said, rejecting claims that the Government’s estimation of the overall cost was misleading.
Asked about accusations that the real cost could be more than £30 billion, armed forces minister Luke Pollard told Sky News: “So it’s £3.4 billion over 99 years – that represents good value.
“And it’s also comparable to other allies leasing bases in the region. Djibouti… there’s a base there rented by the French, for instance, that’s 85 million euros that they spend per year there.
“But that base is literally next door to the Chinese naval base that’s leased there. Diego Garcia is 15 times bigger than that French base.”
He added that the UK had secured an “exclusion zone” around the base to protect UK and US operations.
Starmer defends Chagos deal as Badenoch criticises multibillion ‘surrender tax’
In a treaty to “complete the process of decolonisation of Mauritius” the Government has agreed to pay at least £120 million-a-year for 99 years for control of the vital Diego Garcia military base, plus hand over £1.125 billion for economic development over a 25-year period.
Ministers argued that the deal needed to be done because the UK would have faced legal challenges “within weeks” which could have jeopardised the operation of the Indian Ocean base which is used by US and British forces.
The International Court of Justice, in an advisory opinion in 2019, said the Chagos Archipelago should be handed over.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch claimed the total cost of the deal could mean “at least £30 billion of taxpayers’ money thrown away in a surrender tax”.
She said: “It speaks volumes about this shameful Prime Minister that he attacks me instead of owning up to another wrong-headed, wasteful and dangerous deal.”
