Well, well, well. Baroness Chapman of Darlington – the international development minister – turned up to the House of Lords to address the UK government’s Chagos deal. Last October, Sir Keir Starmer’s government decided to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a move that has sparked outrage in several quarters – not least among the Chagossians themselves. Last month, polling by the Friends of the British Overseas Territories revealed that, er, 99.2 per cent of Chagossians want the isles to remain British. Talk about decisive!
Not that Chapman appeared to acknowledge this when she spoke in the second chamber on the subject. Although concerns have been raised that the views of Chagossians had not been taken into account, the Labour peer insisted that:
This House clearly feels very strongly about Chagossians and ensuring that their views are properly heard, and we have agreed that the International Relations and Defence Committee will undertake an important piece of work which will look at Chagossian views on the treaty, and I am sure that we will all read this with great interest and we’re looking forward to their report.
Though given the government is going ahead with the Chagos sell-off, Mr S remains unconvinced about the sincerity of Chapman’s statement. Labour: in favour of self-determination until they’re not, eh?
Watch the clip here:
Comments