The UK has denied claims from the prime minister of Mauritius that it might find yourself paying double below a brand new Chagos Islands deal.
The Overseas Workplace has stated the figures being quoted are “entirely inaccurate and misleading” after Navin Ramgoolam stated the brand new settlement would imply funds from the UK are “inflation-proof”.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer was accused of “bending the knee” to Mauritius after Mr Ramgoolam stated the UK prime minister “intends to push ahead” with the brand new settlement.
Britain reached a deal final yr to switch the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius after a decades-long dispute.
The settlement included the tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, dwelling to a UK-US army base that performs a vital position within the area’s stability and worldwide safety.
Below the proposed settlement, the UK would lease again Diego Garcia for 99 years at a reported annual price of round £90m.
Nevertheless, Mr Ramgoolam advised his nation’s Nationwide Meeting on Monday {that a} renegotiated deal on the return of the archipelago would imply funds from the UK for the lease can be linked to inflation and frontloaded.
This implies the quantity Britain would pay might double.
Mr Ramgoolam described the earlier deal as a “sell-out” and stated the brand new settlement was “unambiguous”.
He stated: “We have to be inflation-proof. What’s the point of getting money and then having half of it by the end? This is what would happen, we have made the calculations.”
Nevertheless, the UK Overseas Workplace stated in an announcement this morning: “The figures being quoted are entirely inaccurate and misleading.”
Mr Ramgoolam additionally stated the earlier deal, negotiated by his predecessor, had allowed the UK to unilaterally prolong that lease for 40 years, however the brand new phrases would require Mauritian consent, successfully giving the island nation a veto.
The Overseas Workplace stated in its response: “There has been no change to the terms of extension in the treaty.
“The UK will solely signal a deal that’s in our nationwide curiosity.”
Mr Ramgoolam has also referred to a phone call with Sir Keir last Friday in which he said the UK prime minister “knowledgeable me that he intends to push forward” with the new deal.
He added: “We stay assured that it’s going to attain a speedy decision within the coming weeks.”
Picture:
Gas tanks on the fringe of a army airstrip on Diego Garcia. File pic: Reuters
PM ‘bending the knee’
Conservatives within the UK, who opened negotiations on returning the Chagos Islands in 2022 however have been essential of the deal because it was introduced by Labour final yr, seized on Mr Ramgoolam’s remarks.
Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch stated the prime minister ought to “come to parliament and be honest with MPs” about what she known as a “foolish deal”.
In the meantime Dame Priti Patel, the shadow overseas secretary, accused Sir Keir of “putting his leftie shame of our country’s history over our national security and our longstanding relationship with our closest ally”.
She stated: “He has the audacity to tell the British people they will foot the bill and pay for the indignity of his surrender of the Chagos Islands, as he isolates the new US administration by bending the knee to Mauritius and emboldening our enemies with his disastrous surrender deal.”
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From October 2024: Chagossians residing in UK ‘really feel betrayed once more’
In the meantime, Mr Ramgoolam has stated the deal is being reviewed by the brand new US administration, the place senior figures have expressed concern that ceding management of the islands might weaken Western affect within the Indian Ocean and strengthen the attain of China.
Mr Ramgoolam advised the Nationwide Meeting: “President Trump is not a wolf. Let him see if the agreement is good or not.
“Now the British have, late within the day, determined that, sure, it’s higher to let the brand new administration take a look, that’s what the state of affairs is.”
Though Mauritius has sought to construct relations with China, it stays certainly one of solely two African nations to not have signed as much as Beijing’s Belt and Highway Initiative and is a detailed ally of India, which has frosty relations with Beijing.
