UK forced to shelve legislation to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius | Chagos Islands
The UK government was forced to shelve legislation to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after the US withdrew its support for the agreement.
On Friday, UK government officials acknowledged they were running out of time to pass the legislation in the current parliamentary session, which ends in the coming weeks.
The latest failure in the UK’s bid to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, home to the joint US-UK Diego Garcia military base, is a sign of worsening US-UK relations after Donald Trump heavily criticized Keir Starmer for his handling of the Iran war.
The US president had previously criticized the plan, backed by the US state department, and told Starmer that Britain and the US had “made a big mistake” by handing sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius in exchange for being allowed to continue using their air bases.
But in early February, Trump described it as the “best” deal the prime minister could make under the circumstances. The US president also approved the handover during Starmer’s visit to the White House last year.
According to the agreement, the United Kingdom will transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease Diego Garcia, the largest island of the archipelago, for 99 years to continue operating the joint military base there.
The US had not formally exchanged letters to amend the Anglo-American agreement on the islands in 1966, apparently forcing Britain to withdraw the bill.
Now, a new Chagos bill is not expected to feature in the king’s speech in May, when he will announce the government’s agenda for the next parliament.
In February, the Guardian reported that Trump had changed his mind about supporting the deal after Britain refused to allow its air bases to be used for a pre-emptive US strike on Iran.
Last month, Iran struck a joint military base after Starmer warned that British lives were in danger after he authorized the US to carry out more attacks from British bases.
At the time, Foreign Minister and former diplomat Hamish Falconer told MPs that talks with their American counterparts had been halted and that the ongoing process in parliament regarding the agreement would be brought back at an appropriate time.
Starmer allowed the US to use UK bases such as Diego Garcia only for defensive missions against Iran. This month, it faced growing pressure to limit access after Trump threatened that “an entire civilization” would die if Iran ignored its demands, before a ceasefire was later agreed.
In an effort to clear up confusion over Falconer’s comments, the State Department said no pause or deadline had been set and that timings would be announced “in the ordinary way”.
The government has been approached for comment.
