Donald Trump Criticises Chagos Handover Plan

Donald Trump has condemned the UK government’s “terrible” plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The US president hit out at the “ridiculous” deal in his first face-to-face talks with Andy Burnham at the UN General Assembly in New York.

Trump said relations between the UK and America were “more up” now that Burnham had replaced Keir Starmer as prime minister.

He said Burnham was “going to be a great” – then delivered his damning verdict on the Chagos deal.

The UK government announced last year that it was going to pay Mauritius £9 billion over the next 99 years so the UK-US military base at Diego Garcia will continue to operate as it does at the moment.

But Trump said: “I don’t support it. I think it’s a terrible deal.

“They all of a sudden say they have ownership, somebody has ownership that never showed up before after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous. No, we were talking about that.

“It’s strategically very important, very important. You know, we had to send our B-2 bombers when we bombed the Iran nuclear, we sent the B-2 bombers back home to Missouri. As opposed to flying for a short period of time, they had to fly for a long period of time.

“It’s amazing how strategic it is, and I think the prime minister is going to be looking at it. It’s very strategic location. And it’s unique…

“It’s a very important piece of real estate, militarily and strategically.”

Reform Uk leader Nigel Farage welcomed Trump’s comments.

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