The Chagos Surrender Deal

The Labour Government have signed a deal to surrender British sovereign territory – and burden you with a £30 billion bill for the privilege.

The Chagos Islands have never belonged to Mauritius, a China-backed ally. In fact, they are 2,000km away from each other. Britain has administered Chagos for 200 years following having been ceded the territory by the French at the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a ruling which was non-binding and only advisory. Yet, it is basis of the government’s interpretation of international law as abetted by certain left-wing lawyers close to the Mauritian Government and the Prime Minister personally.

This has serious geopolitical ramifications – with China and Russia both pushing for Britain to give up Chagos.

That the government seems to have ignored their obvious interest in the West losing the vital UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indo-Pacific theatre in an increasingly uncertain world is deeply troubling.

China broke the Sino-British Joint Declaration and prematurely annexed Hong Kong decades before it was due under this international treaty in 2047. There is no reason to think they will stop there. Should China occupy Diego Garcia via Mauritius, it will irreversibly change the region’s security architecture.

The only winners from this deal are our adversaries.

Worse, Ministers have failed to deny that the billions of pounds somehow found for this deal - when we have been told there was supposedly a black hole in the public finances – does not comprise part of a prior pledge to increase defence spending whilst war rages in Europe.

It is troubling that the government cannot even be upfront about how much this ‘deal’ will really cost. While socialists have never been good at adding up cash, the discrepancies in this case are simply embarrassing.

The Government claim that the lease-back agreement for 99 years will cost £3.4 billion.

However, released documents show that the UK will actually pay Mauritius £165 million a year for the first three years, before falling to £120 million for the following decade and then £120 million adjusted for inflation for the rest of the lease.

We will also be paying £45 million a year for 25 years into a Mauritian economic development and welfare fund, along with a one-off £40 million fund for Chagossians. Assuming an average of 2% inflation, the true cost of this surrender deal will be closer to £30 billion.

Even Chagossians born on the Diego Garcia island have been fighting for the islands to remain under British control and recently sought hearings at the High Court to block the Government’s deal.

While the Labour Government are happy to pay billions of pounds to give away our territory - a national act of self-harm – it seems they are completely incapable of finding the money to pay for the British people’s priorities – cutting our taxes, controlling our borders, funding winter fuel payments for the elderly, and improving public services.