Sir Keir Starmer’s giveaway of the British Chagos Islands not only shames Britain but potentially endangers the Western alliance.
To be fair to the PM, this shameful handover has its beginnings with the Tories but it was last October that the new Labour government agreed to a secretive deal with then Mauritian prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
To be clear, Mauritius has never owned the territory while the Chagos Islanders have had no say on the deal.
Aside from the cost to the UK taxpayer, which apparently is now to be front-loaded to get the agreement over the line, there is the critical issue of Diego Garcia, which hosts American and British troops and which remains critical to defending against future Chinese Communist aggression. This is due to be leased to the UK for 99 years.
In addition to what was initially agreed, the new Mauritian PM Navin Ramgoolam apparently wants the UK to pay an annual sum of £800m, plus ‘billions of pounds in reparations’. Amidst seeming capitulation from the UK Government, there are also reports of demands of a shorter lease on Diego Garcia with more Mauritian control.
Agreeing to this wouldn’t just be short-sighted due to how strategically important is Diego Garcia – the only bomber base for the US and UK in the region, and America’s only major base alongside its own territory of Guam – but because of how close Mauritius has gotten to Communist China.
Beijing could well be looking to gain control over the territory itself or, at least, spy extensively on it under the guise of more Mauritian oversight.
China is on a deadline for mobilising against the island democracy of Taiwan, amid reports of mobile piers being built which could significantly aid in any invasion or blockade.
Relinquishing any sort of control of Diego Garcia at a time like this would therefore be monumentally stupid.
While it is true that Britain has hardly treated the indigenous peoples of the Chagos Islands well over the years, handing the Chagos Islands to Mauritius over the heads of those people is hardly the way to remedy things.
Critically, British taxpayers should not have to cough up for an agreement which not only serves the indigenous people of the Chagos Islands badly but potentially threatens the security of the free world. Sir Keir urgently needs to U-turn on this so-called deal.
