Starmer’s Chagos deal dealt major blow as judge rules Chagossians have right to live on disputed islands
Keir Starmer’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has been dealt another major blow following a court ruling giving islanders deported in the 1960s the right to live there.
The landmark ruling is a fresh blow to the beleaguered prime minister, whose efforts to resolve the future of the Chagos Islands, home to the key US-UK air base at Diego Garcia, reverse almost six decades of previous legal rulings on the islands.
The deal was already troubled by opposition from Donald Trump following a debate over whether the United States could use the air base for attacks on Iran; The ruling by British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Tribunal judge Justice James Lewis could have ended the deal altogether.
The case was filed earlier this year after four Chagos people invaded one of the islands in an attempt to reclaim their homes and the BIOT governor attempted to remove them.
In his decision, Judge Lewis overturned legislation on the islands passed by Tony Blair’s government in 2004 to prevent the Chagossians from returning to the islands. It also reversed previous decisions by the Law Lords to initially abolish them in the 1960s and 1970s.
He concluded that the government’s previous argument that there could be no return to the islands on national security or defense grounds was no longer valid, because the proposed agreement with Mauritius meant that the government had now accepted that the islands could be inhabited.
He also noted that he estimated the Mauritius deal would cost UK taxpayers at £51bn (higher than previous estimates), meaning his claim that it was too costly to ensure the return of the Chagossians was also invalid.
Judge Lewis concluded that the islanders had the right to reside in their homeland, taking advantage of the UK’s United Nations obligations, making the award of the islands to Mauritius almost impossible.
The government filed an appeal against the decision, which was accepted by the BIOT Court of Appeal and will be considered.
The original decision to negotiate a treaty with Mauritius came from a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which was not binding on the UK but stated that the islands belonged to Mauritius.
However, this decision was based on Mauritius being the former colonial administrative center of the islands. Other parts of the British Empire governed from Mauritius gained independence due to population.
Lawyer James Tumbridge, acting on behalf of the Chagossians, said: Independent: “Once islands are populated it changes the entire legal status and means they must be treated as their own entity.”
The return to the islands was carried out by an expedition funded by Reform’s biggest donor, Christopher Harborne, and led by former Tory MP and Reform defector Adam Holloway.
However, in his decision, Judge Lewis criticized Nigel Farage and other Reformists and specifically stated that they had no right to go to the islands. Mr Farage tried to join the four Chagossians last month.
