Chagos deal will not go ahead if Trump rejects it, Lammy says
The Foreign Secretary said he still believed the agreement to cede the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius was the ‘best deal’.
The Chagos Islands deal will not go ahead without the backing of US President Donald Trump, David Lammy has said.
The Foreign Secretary said he still believed the agreement to cede the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius was the “best deal” which could be struck.
Mr Lammy’s suggestion that Mr Trump will have a veto over the deal came after Sir Keir Starmer faced questions about whether cash to pay Mauritius for leasing back a military base would come out of the increase in defence spending he announced.
The UK is in talks with Mauritius about handing over sovereignty of the territory, but leasing back the strategically important Diego Garcia military base which is used by the US.
Asked by ITV’s Peston programme if the US leader had a veto on the agreement, Mr Lammy replied: “If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward.
“The reason for that is because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States, and of course they’ve got to be happy with the deal, or there is no deal.”
Speaking from the US, he had earlier said the UK’s military and intelligence was “very intertwined with the United States”, adding: “We struck a deal. After striking that deal, there was a change of government in Mauritius, and the new government in Mauritius had to have time to look at the deal.
“And there has been a change of government here in the United States, and the United States administration have had time to look at the deal. I still believe it’s the best deal.”
In the Commons on Wednesday, Sir Keir declined to say directly whether Mauritius would be paid out of his planned increase to 2.5% of GDP announced on Tuesday.
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch asked Sir Keir: “This morning the Defence Secretary could not say if the Chagos deal would come out of the defence budget. Can he confirm to the House that none of the defence uplift includes payments for his Chagos deal?”
The PM replied in the Commons: “The additional spend I announced yesterday is for our capability on defence and security in Europe, as I made absolutely clear yesterday.
“The Chagos deal is extremely important for our security, for US security. The US are rightly looking at it. When it’s finalised I’ll put it before the House with the costings.
“The figures being bandied around are absolutely wide of the mark, the deal is well over a century but the funding I announced yesterday is for our capability to put ourselves in a position to rise to a generational challenge, that is what that money is all about and I thought she supported it.”
Earlier on Wednesday, Defence Secretary John Healey did not say whether the Chagos money was included when asked by Times Radio.
Speaking after Prime Minister’s Questions, a spokesman for Mrs Badenoch said: “I think this all points to what amounts to really a cover-up of where this money for the Chagos surrender is coming from.
“It is incumbent on the Government as soon as possible to come and explain where the money is coming from, and if it is coming from the defence budget it makes all of the announcements over the last 24 hours seem (to be) ringing increasingly hollow.”
He also indicated that the US president should block the deal if it is a bad deal.
Elsewhere in the Commons, the Conservatives failed in a bid to secure greater transparency over the Chagos negotiations.
The Opposition tabled a motion asking the Government to release a chronology of the negotiations between the UK and Mauritius since July 4 last year, and to confirm the accuracy of recent updates made by the Mauritius prime minister on the terms of the deal.
It also asked ministers to explain how the deal will be funded, the involvement of Attorney General Lord Hermer and details on why the Government sought to accelerate negotiations.
MPs voted 298 to 147, majority 151, to reject the motion.
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: “The Government has covered up the true facts of this deal, a deal we would never have done, from the get-go.
“Tonight, the Conservatives gave Labour MPs the chance to scrap the deal and stop the cash and yet they chose to surrender.”
