UK taxpayers spent £1.3 million out of the foreign aid budget on a diversity scheme in Mauritius amid negotiations over the Chagos Islands.
The bespoke aid programme began in October 2022, the same month the Government agreed to start talks over the Chagos Islands.
The scheme was described as a “priority for ministers” and included measures to increase the representation of women in the Mauritian renewable energy sector despite the UK’s demand to hand over the territory.
Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to give up the Indian Ocean territory has been met with furious criticism from Opposition, including Conservatives and Reform UK.
They have argued that the Prime Minister has “surrendered” the islands to appease international courts, even though it could fracture Britain’s relationship with the US.
While negotiations have been ongoing between Mauritius and the UK, The Telegraph has revealed that Britain has spent tens of thousands of pounds each month on a diversity development project.
The scheme, run by the British High Commission in Port Louis, included a £200,000 plan to increase the number of women and young people “occupying jobs in the renewable energy sector” by March 2024.
The UK taxpayer also paid for training workshops to get women and young people into the green energy sector and funded a £15,000 visit by the Mauritian electoral commissioner to the UK in March 2023.
The UK also sent police officers from London and Cambridgeshire to Mauritius between January and March 2023, where they trained law enforcement to deal with cybercrime.
In March 2024, when a Chagos Islands deal had not been reached, the Government extended the diversity scheme for another year. The Foreign Office explained how aid was not “conditional” to the negotiations.
Under the previous Government, officials had also requested that the programme be exempt from foreign aid cuts due to “wider political sensitivities”.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “This programme was introduced under the last administration to work with Mauritius on international development and climate change. It is not conditional on negotiations over the British Indian Ocean Territory.”
