Tag Archives: chagos islands

The Chagos Agreement will secure the Chagossians’ right of return. The Liberal Democrats must support it.

By Peter Harris | Thu 26th February 2026 - 6:53 pm

The agreement between Britain and Mauritius over control of the Chagos Islands has become one of the most controversial topics of this Parliament. This is a sorry reflection on the state of UK politics. In more normal times, the Chagos deal would be viewed as a diplomatic success story – an example of two states working together to uphold the rules-based international order for the benefit of all concerned.

But these are not normal times. Ever since the government of Liz Truss announced in November 2022 (with the backing of the Biden administration) that it was opening negotiations with Mauritius, critics have scoffed at the idea of “surrendering” the islands to a foreign power. In recent weeks, the accusations of treachery have reached a fever pitch – stoked in no small part by Donald Trump and his friends on the hard right of UK politics.

The Liberal Democrats have a critical role to play in ensuring that the Chagos agreement goes through. The legislation needed to implement the treaty, the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill, is currently in its final stage of the legislative process. Having cleared its third reading in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, all that remains is for MPs and peers to iron out the final text of the legislation so that it can receive royal assent.

In the Lords, however, the Labour Party cannot do things alone. It depends upon the cooperation of others. The purpose of this blog post is to ask the Liberal Democrats to offer such cooperation at this all-important juncture.

I have studied the Chagos Islands for 18 years. From my perspective, the rights of the indigenous Chagossians have always been the most important dimension of the Chagos dispute. Having lobbied many of your elected representatives and peers over the past two decades, I know that the Liberal Democrats feel the same way. Why, then, do I support the Anglo-Mauritian agreement when so many Chagossians seem to oppose it?

The key thing to remember is that the Chagossian community is divided on the issue of sovereignty. This should not be surprising given that the Chagossians and their descendants number in the thousands and are spread across several countries. They have conflicting interests, identities, and ideas about their homeland – just like any other large group of people.

Posted in The Independent View | 1 Comment

Conservative hypocrisy over the Chagos Islands

By Jack Wilkin | Thu 10th October 2024 - 9:34 am

If you only read Conservative media you may mistakenly believe that the new Labour government was able to negotiate the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in just a few weeks. An agreement like this should have taken about two years to complete.

Well, it turns out the negotiations did take about two years. Hang on. Does this mean that David Lammy and the fictitious Deep State went behind the Conservative government’s backs and negotiated on behalf of the UK? No. It was the Conservative government that began the negotiations, worked with Mauritius on the deal and finalised the negotiations. It was Lammy and Starmer’s job to sign off on the legal paperwork (and take all the blame in right-wing “news” outlets).

In a statement to parliament, Lammy told MPs: “It’s critical for our national security. Without security of tenure, there will be no base. The deal benefits us, the UK, the US and Mauritius.” Lammy is correct. The agreement with Mauritius was a good one from the British perspective as it would improve relations with African nations and makes it clear that the new government respects international law more than the previous one (which wouldn’t be difficult) while still maintaining a military base in a strategic area.

However, Conservatives are not happy with the agreement their party negotiated. The Tory leadership contenders have already started using it to score cheap political points: Tom Tugendhat calls it a “shameful retreat” (even though the UK isn’t retreating, we have the military base for another 99 years) and James Cleverly claimed ministers who negotiated the deal were “weak, weak, weak” – despite the negotiations beginning on his watch. It is pretty funny that Cleverly basically just called himself weak during a leadership contest. In 2022, Cleverly wrote a ministerial statement in which he stated that he felt the British resistance to handing over the Chagos Islands was hampering the UK’s ability to build alliances in the region. The fact that Cleverly is attacking his own deal is the height of political hypocrisy.

Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell, took things further claiming that Cleverly and Cameron would not have agreed to the deal that both men negotiated .