The UK is revisiting its agreement to transfer over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, the defence secretary has announced. Wes Streeting stated that the pact was being looked at again after US President Donald Trump branded it “terrible” at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Under the initial settlement, the UK would have given up control of the territory to Mauritius and paid an average of £101m ($136m) a year for a lease-back of a joint UK-US military facility there, prized for its strategic location in the Indian Ocean.
Trump withdrew his support for the deal, signed under Sir Keir Starmer, and it was suspended indefinitely in April. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board because the United States doesn’t support the deal,” Streeting said.
What President Trump said yesterday wasn’t new, but I do think it does give absolute clarity that his position on this Chagos deal as currently drafted is not changing,” he said on BBC Breakfast.“So we have to do more work with our American allies, with President Trump and his administration, to get the deal to a place where he can support it.” The focus now, Mr Streeting said, would be on securing long-term assurance for the facility on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos group.
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