Blow for Starmer as Mauritius PM rejects Chagos deal and demands talks reopen

Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow over his “crumbling” controversial plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The prime minister of Mauritius, Dr Navin Ramgoolam, has announced that the deal is “not good enough” and wants to reopen talks.

Embarrassingly, the announcement came less than an hour after a written parliamentary answer from the Foreign Office (FCDO) claiming that Dr Ramgoolam had written to confirm he was happy with the arrangement.

The Independent has also seen a letter from Tory shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel and shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge demanding a rethink on the deal and calling for the government to release “basic facts” about the agreement.

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The deal had already drawn concerns from incoming US president Donald Trump whose transition team had been looking at ways of vetoing the deal. The islands are the home to the highly secretive UK/US airbase on Diego Garcia, and there had also been concerns Mauritius would allow China to build a base on one of the other islands.

Additionally, it was still not clear whether nuclear weapons would be allowed at Diego Garcia if Mauritius owned the island because it is part of the nuclear weapons-free zone treaty.

Dr Ramgoolam, who was elected after the deal was initially agreed with the previous Mauritian government, rejected the current terms as they “would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect.”

A delay means that Trump will be in a much stronger position to block any deal going through.

In their letter to the prime minister, Dame Priti and Mr Cartlidge warned: “At this moment of global danger and insecurity, we have grave concerns about your government’s plan to surrender sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory – and to pay for the privilege of doing so.

“The government’s inability to answer basic questions about the agreement it is negotiating, coupled with the change of administration in the US and the new Mauritian government’s rejection of the proposed deal, has rendered the approach you are pursuing wholly unsustainable.”

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They added: “On the security front, it is entirely unacceptable that we do not have clear answers about how our critical strategic military base on Diego Garcia will be protected. Despite repeated questioning, your ministers are unable to say whether the UK would have a unilateral right to extend the proposed lease on the military base.”

Sir Keir and foreign secretary David Lammy had insisted their agreement was “a good deal” which guaranteed the use of the airbase for at least 99 years.

They had claimed that a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) meant that the UK had to cede sovereignty to Mauritius.

However, critics pointed out the ICJ had no jurisdiction on Commonwealth issues and the ruling was only advisory.

The announcement comes as a shock to the FCDO which put out a different account in a written answer published at 1.22pm on Tuesday less than an hour before the announcement.

In it, foreign office minister Stephen Doughty said: “The prime minister and foreign secretary met the then Mauritian prime minister in London on 23 July. The political agreement between the prime minister and then Mauritian prime minister was reached on 3 October. The new Mauritian prime minister has since written to the prime minister to reaffirm his commitment to concluding the deal.

“This engagement has been supplemented by official level meetings, which have covered all elements of the agreement.”

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The prime minister's official spokesman said the UK had been engaging with the new Mauritian government on the deal.

"The agreement we've struck with Mauritius protects the long-term secure operation of the UK-US base, which plays such a crucial role in regional and international security," the spokesman said.

"There's obviously been a change of leadership in Mauritius, and we've been engaging with the new administration on the details of the deal.

"We remain confident that the agreement is in both sides' shared interest."

Asked whether the UK had offered more money to the Mauritians for the 99-year lease on Diego Garcia, the spokesman said: "I'm obviously not going to get into the detail of private conversations."

Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch used the Chagos fiasco as an excuse to attack the much needed Brexit reset being pursued by Sir Keir’s government.

In an anti EU video designed to appeal to rightwing Reform voters, Ms Badenoch showed a picture of Sir Keir and Angela Rayner taking the knee for Black Lives Matter (BLM).

She said: “Four years ago I warned that Labour will always take the knee. Now we see what that means for our country. Labour cannot negotiate, they get taken for a ride because they give things away for freehoping that the other side will be nice to them in exchange.”

She went on: “They put our national security at risk and agreed to pay for it with the Chagos Islands. Now Mauritius is back asking for more.”

The Tory leader also highlighted the pay deal with train drivers who are now refusing to work over Christmas, and the Commonwealth summit where Sir Keir discuss reparations over slavery.

She said: “Labour will always take the knee. Now they want to restart the Brexit wars after we [the Tories] ended them. The deal they want will give power back to the European Court to overrule the British parliament. Everytime Labour negotiates the UK loses.”