Sir Keir Starmer has given up the Chagos Islands, handing the Indian Ocean territory to Mauritius.
The islands were British-owned from 1814 but have now been signed away by the Government in a deal that it claimed would safeguard global security by ending a long-running dispute.
They include Diego Garcia, which hosts a strategically important US-UK military base.
A joint statement by the British Prime Minister and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth said: “Under the terms of this treaty the United Kingdom will agree that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia.”
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said in a statement on Thursday that the agreement would still secure the “vital” military base for future use.
In practice, the US military control Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos Islands.
Wonder what back hander he got for it.
Tories trying to spin this as a labour betrayal is fucking hilarious.
This makes sense. Protects us from dodgy asylum claims and we keep the military base.
This has been in the works for years now after the ICJ stated we should give it up. But somehow a lot of news articles are leaving out this and are twisting it as Labours fault
Please direct your questions to Chagos resorts, sponsor of the cabinet’s summer holidays!
Should’ve given it to the zionists instead of occupied Palestine.
This was planned a while ago now under the last government. It’s not a new thing. No idea why the headline specifies Starmer as they just completed something that was already in the pipeline.
10 comments
***The Telegraph reports:***
Sir Keir Starmer has given up the Chagos Islands, handing the Indian Ocean territory to Mauritius.
The islands were British-owned from 1814 but have now been signed away by the Government in a deal that it claimed would safeguard global security by ending a long-running dispute.
They include Diego Garcia, which hosts a strategically important US-UK military base.
A joint statement by the British Prime Minister and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth said: “Under the terms of this treaty the United Kingdom will agree that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia.”
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, said in a statement on Thursday that the agreement would still secure the “vital” military base for future use.
**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/03/starmer-chagos-islands-sovereignty/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/03/starmer-chagos-islands-sovereignty/)
In practice, the US military control Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos Islands.
Wonder what back hander he got for it.
Tories trying to spin this as a labour betrayal is fucking hilarious.
This makes sense. Protects us from dodgy asylum claims and we keep the military base.
This has been in the works for years now after the ICJ stated we should give it up. But somehow a lot of news articles are leaving out this and are twisting it as Labours fault
Please direct your questions to Chagos resorts, sponsor of the cabinet’s summer holidays!
Should’ve given it to the zionists instead of occupied Palestine.
This was planned a while ago now under the last government. It’s not a new thing. No idea why the headline specifies Starmer as they just completed something that was already in the pipeline.
This was agreed two years