Delay finalising Chagos Islands deal until after Trump inauguration, say Tories

Ministers have been urged to delay decisions on giving up control of the Chagos Islands until after Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The UK and Mauritius said they have made “good progress” on a revised agreement, with Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam claiming the UK wants it finalised before Mr Trump is sworn in as president on January 20.

But Conservative MPs urged caution from the Government and suggested ministers hold off for at least week given hostility to the proposed arrangement from Mr Trump’s allies.

The exchanges in the House of Commons came as preparations for Mr Trump’s presidency were discussed at Cabinet on Tuesday.

Sir Keir Starmer is not expected to attend the inauguration but the Prime Minister and Mr Trump have discussed meeting “at the earliest opportunity” – with speculation a visit to Washington could come within weeks of the Republican’s arrival in the White House.

The UK struck a deal with Mr Ramgoolam’s predecessor to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands – also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory – but lease back the strategically important UK-US military base on Diego Garcia for at least 99 years.

But the proposed agreement, which includes the UK paying an annual sum of money, was struck before elections in both Mauritius and the United States and has run into trouble since the results of those contests.

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel asked in the Commons: “Can the Foreign Secretary explain why he’s surrendering the Chagos Islands and frontloading payments to the government of Mauritius to lease the base at Diego Garcia at a cost of £9 billion to UK taxpayers?

“And if this is such a good deal, why’s he so secretive about it?”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy replied: “I know that the shadow foreign secretary is new to the job but I just remind her that it was her government that did 10 rounds of negotiation on this issue, we picked it up, and remind her that the White House, State Department and the Pentagon believe that this is a good deal – as does the Indian government.”

Shadow Foreign Office minister Andrew Rosindell earlier asked: “Will he commit to this House to wait until after President Trump is in office and after he has had time to discuss this deal with the new administration before finalising any agreement with Mauritius – yes or no?”

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty, in his reply, said: “Our deal secures the future security of the base on Diego Garcia. It has support across the US administration and indeed across the United States national security apparatus.”

Conservative former minister Sir Edward Leigh said: “Leaving aside whether it’s wise to spend £9 billion on giving away what’s already yours, as the Trump administration is less than a week away, would it not be wise to wait another week, pause these negotiations, have a quiet word with the incoming secretary of state in America and then work out what is in our interests and the interests of our closest ally?”

Elsewhere in Foreign Office questions, Mr Doughty refused to “speculate on any policy decisions” which Mr Trump’s administration in Washington may make around the status of Greenland and Canada.

Mr Trump has made clear that he would want Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, under US control and also floated the idea of having Canada join the US.

Mr Doughty said: “Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and the future of their constitutional arrangements is a matter for the people and government of Greenland and indeed the Kingdom of Denmark. It would be wrong to speculate on any policy decisions the incoming administration of President-elect Trump may make.”

Outside the chamber, a Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister used the latest Cabinet meeting to speak of “his determination to pursue a partnership with the US for the 21st century, which would protect security, advance our economic growth and leverage the opportunity of new technologies”.

Mr Lammy, Defence Secretary John Healey and Chancellor Rachel Reeves also spoke about the “huge opportunities to deepen the US-UK relationship”.

Lord Mandelson, who is set to become the UK’s ambassador in Washington, was spotted visiting No 10 shortly after the Cabinet meeting.