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A deal that would see the Chagos Islands ceded to Mauritius has come under criticism from new Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam and the incoming Trump administration. According to the deal, which has yet to be signed, the UK would maintain a 99-year lease over Diego Garcia, a major UK-US military airbase, but would relinquish sovereignty over the rest of the archipelago. Ramgoolam has expressed doubts over the agreement. Meanwhile, Trump ally Nigel Farage has claimed it would damage Keir Starmer’s relations with the US President-elect.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy played down the criticism. Asked about the deal at the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, he said: “I’m very, very confident that this is a deal that the Mauritians will see, in a cross-party sense, as a good deal for them… this is a very good deal for our national security because it secures the legal basis of the Diego Garcia military base.”
The agreement is still subject to treaty finalisation, and details of the legal text are being worked out. Following this the deal will likely go before Parliament for scrutiny next year.
The incoming Trump administration is reportedly “horrified” at the prospect of the Chagos Islands deal, claimed Farage during a Newsnight interview. Trump’s pick for Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has already claimed that the deal with an island nation allied with China posed a “serious threat” to US national security.
Matthew Syed, Times columnist, believes we are moving closer to a major war between the big powers and describes China’s leading an ever more cohesive axis with Iran, Russia and North Korea. Syed argues that Europe has been “free-riding” on US defence spending, but in this context, it is crucial to stand with the US
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