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.
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