To the Commons, where Prime Minister’s Questions has this afternoon taken place. Sir Keir Starmer was asked a ranged of questions, from energy to aid to the economy. But while the Labour PM appeared to enjoy his to and fro with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, on the Chagos Islands he was a little more cagey…
When Conservative MP Kieran Mullan quizzed Starmer on whether the deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago would be funded from the Ministry of Defence’s budget, the Prime Minister did not have a straight answer – despite the straightforwardness of Mullan’s question. Pushing the PM, the Tory politician asked:
The Leader of the Opposition gave the Prime Minister an opportunity to unambiguously rule out the funding of any Chagos deal coming from the defence budget and I am not clear that he did that. I want him to be taken seriously in Washington so I will make it really easy for him. Will he rule out the funding of any Chagos deal coming from the defence budget: yes or no?
But despite being asked to offer a straight answer ahead of his meeting with Donald Trump, Sir Keir did not oblige. Responding, the PM remarked: ‘As I said, when the deal is complete I will put it before the House with the costings. The money yesterday was allocated to aid our capability, the single biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War.’ Er, right.
It comes after the Labour leader told Kemi Badenoch that the extra defence spending announced on Tuesday ‘is for our capability on defence and security in Europe’, with Starmer adding that the money will help Brits ‘put ourselves in a position to rise to a generational challenge’. The question today follows concerns that the UK could end up handing the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius for a billion-pound sum – as well as giving ‘complete sovereignty’ of US naval base isle Diego Garcia to Mauritius.
While the Foreign Office has rejected the suggestion that the deal could end up costing £18 billion, Starmer still hasn’t managed to clear up questions concerning its funding. Stay tuned…
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