Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire at PMQs after Mauritius said the UK had agreed to change payment terms in its deal to hand it control of the Chagos Islands. It comes after Mauritian PM Navin Ramgoolam claimed the UK had now agreed to front-load the payments and change how they are calculated.
The plan to cede sovereignty of the archipelago, known officially as the British Indian Ocean Territory, was announced last October after a deal was reached with former Mauritian leader Pravind Jugnauth. But he was swept from power in a general election a month later, and Ramgoolam, his replacement, has criticised the initial draft.
The agreement has also been mired in uncertainty after Donald Trump’s re-election as US president, given several US Republicans have argued it could deliver a potential security boost to China. Mauritius says it was ready to sign a deal last month – but the UK asked to press the pause button to allow Trump to examine it first.
Speaking in the Mauritian Parliament on Tuesday, Ramgoolam said payments, due to be made in dollars, would now be subject to a variable rather than fixed exchange rate, arguing the previous deal was not “inflation-proof”. “What’s the point of getting money and then having half of it at the end?” he added.
He also said the UK had agreed to give up a right to unilaterally extend the lease by 40 years – something denied by the British Foreign Office, which says there has been “no change to the terms of extension”.
Downing Street has dismissed Ramgoolam’s summary of the talks as “clearly aimed at a domestic political audience”. But Tory leader Kemi Badenoch seized on the reports as she faced Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions, telling MPs: “Yesterday, we heard the government offered £18bn for Mauritius to take our territory in the Chagos Islands.”
Referencing July’s decision to cut winter fuel payments, a pension top-up, she added: “He’s freezing pensioners, while shovelling money to Mauritius.” Reform UK leader Nigel Farage asked how he should justify the UK being “prepared to give away a military base and pay £18bn for the privilege” to constituents who are “losing their winter fuel allowance and feeling the pinch”.
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