Blow for Starmer as Mauritius PM rejects Chagos deal and demands talks reopen

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Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow over his controversial plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The prime minister of Mauritius Dr Navin Ramgoolam has announced that the deal is “not good enough” and wants to reopen talks.

Embarrassingly, the announcement came less than an hour after a written parliamentary answer from the Foreign Office (FCDO) claiming that Dr Ramgoolam had written to confirm he was happy with the arrangement.

The deal had already drawn concerns from incoming US president Donald Trump whose transition team had been looking at ways of vetoing the deal. The islands are the home to the highly secretive UK/ US airbase on Diego Garcia. There had also been concerns that Mauritius would allow China to build a base on one of the other islands.

Additionally, it was still not clear whether nuclear weapons would be allowed at Diego Garcia if Mauritius owned the island because it is part of the nuclear weapons-free zone treaty.

Dr Ramgoolam, who was elected after the deal was initially agreed with the previous Mauritian government, rejected the current terms as they “would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect.”

A delay means that Trump will be in a much stronger position to block any deal going through.

Sir Keir and foreign secretary David Lammy had insisted their agreement was “a good deal” which guaranteed the use of the airbase for at least 99 years.

They had claimed that a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) meant that the UK had to cede sovereignty to Mauritius.

However, critics pointed out the ICJ had no jurisdiction on Commonwealth issues and the ruling was only advisory.

The announcement comes as a shock to the FCDO which put out a different account in a written answer published at 1.22pm on Tuesday less than an hour before the announcement.

In it, foreign office minister Stephen Doughty said: “The prime minister and foreign secretary met the then Mauritian prime minister in London on 23 July. The political agreement between the prime minister and then Mauritian prime minister was reached on 3 October. The new Mauritian prime minister has since written to the Prime Minister to reaffirm his commitment to concluding the deal.

“This engagement has been supplemented by official level meetings, which have covered all elements of the agreement. This includes a meeting between the prime minister’s special envoy with BIOT negotiations, Jonathan Powell and PM Ramgoolam on 25 November.”