James Heale James Heale

The Chagos deal will haunt Keir Starmer

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After months of negotiation, the UK has today signed a deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under the terms of the agreement, Britain will lease back the military base there for an annual rate of £101 million. The net value of the payments from the UK under the treaty will reach £3.4 billion.

Keir Starmer insisted that the Chagos deal is in Britain’s best interests

The Prime Minister insists that the deal – which involves a lease on the base for 99 years ‘and beyond’ – is in the country’s national interest. It comes after an ‘advisory opinion’ by the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ), that the Chagos Islands belonged to Mauritius.

An early morning legal challenge at the High Court threatened to postpone this afternoon’s virtual signing with Mauritius. But this was thrown out, paving the way for a press conference at which Keir Starmer insisted that the government had to ‘act now’ as it would not have a ‘realistic prospect of success’ if Mauritius restarted legal proceedings. Under the terms of the deal, the island of Diego Garcia will continue to be used as a military base, as per an agreement with ‘Five Eyes’ allies.

‘There is no alternative,’ the Prime Minister told journalists. ‘By agreeing to this deal now on our terms, we’re securing strong protections, including from malign influence, that will allow the base to operate well into the next century, helping to keep us safe for generations to come,’ he said.

‘The strategic location of this base is of the utmost importance’, Starmer continued, ‘the base is right at the base of our security.’ His argument is that ‘strong protections’ are included in today’s deal. 

Yet the handover of the Chagos Islands is fraught with risk for the Prime Minister. Yes, it was the Tories who initiated discussions. But the decision not to resist the ICJ ruling is squarely on Starmer’s shoulders. Given Kemi Badenoch’s insistence, that, ‘when Labour negotiates, Britain loses’, the deal is likely to haunt his party tomorrow.

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