Trump has power to block Starmer’s Chagos deal, No10 admits
Labor has admitted Keir Starmer’s controversial Chagos Islands deal is at risk of collapse if Donald Trump refuses to tear up the 60-year-old agreement.
The legislation, which was scheduled to be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, was postponed amid warnings that it could violate an agreement asserting US-UK sovereignty over the archipelago.
The US president sent shockwaves through Downing Street this week with his attack on Sir Keir’s plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal he said was necessary to secure the future of the key UK-US Diego Garcia military base.
Ministers secured US support for the deal last year. The president even told Sir Keir during a visit to Washington in February that he was “inclined to go along with your country” and “had a feeling that things would turn out very well”.
But the US president dramatically turned U in a move that sent shockwaves through Downing Street, using a post on the Truth Social platform earlier this week to call it “an act of gross stupidity”.
Sir Keir responded by accusing her of trying to pressure Britain to support American plans to take over Greenland.
The two leaders were also at odds over Trump’s accusations that UK troops were avoiding the front line in Afghanistan; The US President eventually spoke out against this on Saturday.
In a letter sent on Friday evening, ministers acknowledged that ratifying the Chagos treaty would not be possible without US cooperation to overhaul the 1966 treaty. Telegram reported.
Lord Callayan, the shadow Foreign Office spokesman in the House of Lords, had written to the government asking whether the Chagos agreement would be legal if the 1966 treaty remained unchanged.
The newspaper noted that Africa minister Lady Chapman responded by confirming that it would not be possible to ratify the Chagos agreement “without the relevant domestic law and international regulations being in place”.
Meanwhile, Misley Mandarin, the first minister of the newly formed Chagossian government in exile, is expected to fly to the US on Sunday to urge Mr Trump to stop the Chagos deal.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the Conservative Party was engaged in “quiet diplomacy” with Republicans and was working to “show how much of a risk this deal poses to national security.”
The new delay in the House of Lords came after warnings that the transfer of the islands could breach a 60-year-old agreement with the United States stipulating UK sovereignty over the islands.
But the government angrily accused his colleagues of interfering with Britain’s national security and “irresponsible and reckless behaviour”.
The legislation is intended to provide a solid legal basis for the operation of the strategically important Diego Garcia Military Base, which has been used by UK and US forces on the islands since its construction in the 1970s.
Ministers claimed the transfer agreement was necessary because international court rulings in favor of Mauritius’ sovereignty claims threatened the future of the facility.
With promised updates to the 1966 agreement yet to be implemented, the Conservatives tabled a motion in the Lords on Friday morning, demanding that ratification of the treaty be delayed for fear that doing so would breach international law.
Legislation supporting the deal was scheduled to be sent to the upper house for further scrutiny on Monday, but that will no longer happen.
A government spokesman said: “The government remains fully committed to the agreement to secure the joint UK-US base at Diego Garcia, which is vital to our national security.
“This is irresponsible and reckless behavior by our colleagues whose job it is to control legislation and not interfere with our national security priorities.”
