Patel: ‘UK’s enemies queuing up’ to get close to Mauritius after Chagos deal

Britain’s “enemies are queuing up” to get close to Mauritius as a result of plans to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, Dame Priti Patel has claimed.

The shadow foreign secretary said adversaries such as Russia, Iran and China back the deal, which was signed earlier this year, because it makes the UK “weaker”.

The Government agreed to cede the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, but retain control of the military base on Diego Garcia at a projected cost of £34.7 billion over the next 99 years.

Parliament will have to pass the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill, before the treaty is ratified.

During the Bill’s second reading debate, defence minister Luke Pollard said the decision to cut a deal with Mauritius was made to protect the military base, which will be leased back to the UK.

Mr Pollard said: “You don’t accidentally rock up one day to the Foreign Office and decide to start international negotiations, you do so because there was a clear risk to the future of that military base.

“That is why the Conservatives started the negotiations, it’s why you had 11 rounds of negotiations, and it’s why we had to conclude the deal.”

Mr Pollard also challenged the Conservatives to publish the contents of the Chagos deal negotiated by the previous government, to show that Labour managed to secure “a better deal for the British people”.

Dame Priti told MPs “everything about this surrender deal is wrong” and there had been a “fundamental betrayal of the British Chagossian community.”

She said: “With our sovereignty over this base being surrendered, it comes as no surprise, I think, to all members of this House, our enemies are now queuing up to, guess what? Make friends with Mauritius.

“Just days before the surrender treaty was signed, Russia agreed with Mauritius a new partnership agreement, which includes marine research. That means, so called marine research conducted by Russia could take place just a handful of miles away from our base.

“And as well as that partnership with Russia, Mauritius has been courted extensively by Iran and China, for further partnerships in a range of other areas.

“But despite warnings, this inept Labour Government has failed to act to safeguard our interests.”

Dame Priti went on to ask for the “evidential basis of the Prime Minister’s claims” that Russia, Iran and China oppose the Chagos deal.

She added: “When the minister responds, can he finally explain the grounds behind the Prime Minister’s malicious, almost spurious remarks, or apologise for those claims?

“Because all evidence shows, so far from opposing the surrender treaty, our enemies actually back it, which means Britain is weaker.”

Intervening, Conservative MP Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire) said research by the Taxpayers Alliance had shown with inflation, the cost would be closer to £47 billion.

Dame Priti said: “This deal is so bad for Britain, it has left our country humiliated and weaker on the world stage, and our friends and enemies are laughing at the UK and Labour’s epic diplomatic failure to stand up for our national interests.”

Her party’s former leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith later warned that “there is no way on Earth that China does not benefit from this” deal.

The co-chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an organisation which is “developing a coherent response to the rise of the People’s Republic of China”, added: “China has its eyes on that very important flow of commercial traffic that runs just below the Chagos Islands and which they have always wanted to have the ability to block, to control or to intercede with.”

He claimed Beijing was “two or three steps further forward” in pursuing its interests “as a result of this Bill”.

Labour MP for Crawley Peter Lamb, whose constituency is home to the largest Chagossian community in the UK, voiced his opposition to the proposed legislation.

He told the Commons: “I can see no logical reason why Government would go through the painful process of bringing this Bill to the floor today if they were not 100% convinced that it was in the UK’s national security interest.

“However, I am afraid that I must vote against the Government today, because I believe that no matter how important those concerns, I do not believe they give us the right to override the Chagossian people’s right to self-determination.

“I believe that we cannot vote to give away these islands, because they are not our islands to give away in the first place.”

He added: “This House has done enormous harm to the Chagossian people, all the way from their enslavement to the present day. I believe that handing these islands to Mauritius without their consent risks making some of that harm permanent.

“Nevertheless, it is within the Government’s power to address many of the consequences of forceful deportation so long ago.”

Tory former attorney general Sir Jeremy Wright challenged the Government’s legal justification for the handover by disputing its claim the UK would otherwise face a binding judgment by the International Court of Justice.

Sir Jeremy added: “Settling a negotiation fast is really very easy if you give the person you are negotiating with everything they want.

“What Mauritius wanted out of this negotiation was sovereignty over the entire Chagos Archipelago. That is what this Government has given them.

“So we really can’t award any points I’m afraid for the fact that this Government has managed to resolve this issue more swiftly.”