‘The British Chagossians, some of whom are watching from the Gallery—I pay tribute to them for their dignified and strong campaigning over many, many years—have been betrayed by Labour. Their rights have been ignored, as have their fears, leading to hundreds fleeing Mauritius and coming here. Labour’s surrender Bill, as presented, does nothing for them. It does nothing for the marine protected area—one of the most important and largest marine environments in the world—which has been protected while under British sovereignty and has become a centre for scientific research and development. That is at risk, and promises and aspirations announced by Ministers to ensure that it continues are not reflected in the Bill.
Shockingly, Labour’s surrender Bill as drafted does nothing to safeguard, defend and protect our national security. Labour is surrendering British sovereignty and territory to a country that is increasingly aligned with China.’
Wendy Morton MP, Shadow Minister (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office), speaking in the Diego Garcia Military Base & British Indian territory Bill debate, 20th October 2025
For reasons that are now very clear for everyone to see, the previous Conservative Government rightly decided not to enter into an agreement with Mauritius on the sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, even after rounds of negotiations undertaken in good faith and in a genuine attempt to address ongoing alleged legal and political disputes over the islands.
It became abundantly and increasingly clear the serious concerns we had over national security and costs could not be addressed and the real-life consequences of such a deal would be extremely expensive and negative to British interests. We were open - we would not take further action that could be potentially detrimental to the UK; the reality of legal action was not likely nor to be reasonably expected, and could be easily repelled as we had undertaken the discussions needed.
However, the Labour Government took the first chance it had to chose to strike a costly deal with Mauritius and to actively surrender the British Indian Ocean Territory. This disgraceful outcome ends 200 years of British sovereignty over a territory that is vital for our country’s security and national interests - paying through the nose for the privilege with a truly dangerous and terrible deal in my view. We know the UK will be weaker and poorer as a result of this deal but the Government has again prioritised appeasing left-wing lawyers and activists over standing up for our national interests. This deal is an epic failure of diplomacy and statecraft. When Labour negotiates, Britain loses.
Extortionate Costs
The Government’s deal means hardworking British taxpayers now and in the future being burdened with the Government's 99-year Surrender Tax to pay the £35 billion lease for the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia.
The Mauritian Government is now able to boast about being able to cut income taxes for Mauritians and reduce the size of their national debt as a direct result of the huge payments the UK Government has decided to give them at British taxpayers’ expense. The Labour Government is funding tax cuts in Mauritius while hiking up your taxes in Britain.
Unbelievably, since coming into office in July 2024, the Government has not only prioritised the surrender of our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory having agreed a bad deal with the former Prime Minister of Mauritius in October 2024, but have also allowed themselves to be bullied by the new Mauritian Prime Minister, Navin Ramgoolam, into making even further concessions.
National Interest
China is on record as saying it wants to deepen its strategic partnership with Mauritius, acknowledging Mauritius is well placed with its ‘strategic advantages’. Meanwhile, Mauritius has proudly announced that it is advancing cooperation with Russia in agriculture, research, irrigation and fisheries. Keir Starmer has also been dishonest in his claims that Russia, China and Iran are opposed to the Chagos Surrender Deal. Representatives of those regimes have commented on the record, and publicly, in support of Mauritius and are no doubt delighted that this Labour Government has surrendered sovereignty over one of our most important strategic assets.
I do find it alarming that, for so long, the Government refused to transparently publish details about the deal they struck, with Ministers refusing to answer questions or confirm details. My parliamentary colleagues and I had to learn through the media and from statements made by the Prime Minister of Mauritius about the UK Government’s plans to front-load payments to Mauritius, hitting hard working British taxpayers with even higher costs in the years ahead.
My Conservative colleagues and I are opposing the Government’s dreadful deal and we will fight it every step of the way in Parliament. The Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel has tabled a Bill in Parliament to block Labour’s surrender of sovereignty, which I am fully backing, and it is disgraceful Labour ministers have sought to block this Bill from being debated and passed in Parliament and had also refused to make parliamentary time available for detailed line-by-line examination of their surrender treaty in brazen attempt to avoid scrutiny.
I am incredibly concerned this awful deal done behind closed doors, along with the opacity and obfuscation currently on display in the collapsed Westminster China spy trial, the ongoing and much opposed approval process of the supersize Chinese embassy in London and the proposed sale of national newspaper, the Telegraph to RedBird Capital Partners (in July, it was concluded a Foreign State Intervention Notice (FSIN) should be issued) is demonstrating a pattern of actively working against our British national interests. It is not good enough for this Government to point to potential economic benefits they desperately need to bail them out from their mismanagement of the economy and terrible economic policy decisions. Getting deeply in hock to a foreign power widely acknowledged to be a clear threat to our national and economic security is not, and cannot be, the answer.
The Chagossians
Despite the Labour Government unswerving belief in its own virtue, they failed to meaningfully consult British Chagossians over the Chagos Islands surrender deal and, as a result, the Government are now the subject of a legal challenge. Under Labour’s appalling deal, the UK will be handing over £40 million of British taxpayers' money for Mauritius to manage a Trust Fund for Chagossians and leave Mauritius in control of visits and resettlement plans. But the Surrender Treaty makes no guarantees that British Chagossians will even benefit from this and many have expressed concerns over the discriminatory, even hostile way the Government of Mauritius treats Chagossians and fails to protect their rights.
Along with betraying British interests, Labour have betrayed British Chagossians and failed to protect their rights.
You will be pleased to hear the Bill the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Dame Priti Patel, has tabled in Parliament that - if passed prior to the Surrender Treaty coming into force - will require the Government to consult and engage British Chagossians on any proposed changes to the British Indian Ocean Territory's sovereignty and constitutional arrangements. This will safeguard and protect their rights and ensure that they have a meaningful say about the future.
This Labour Government deal simply does not make sense on so many levels – on behalf of the country, we are demanding transparency and accountability, serious answers to serious questions. Parliament must put a stop to the Government’s shameful surrender deal and legislate to protect our sovereignty, our security and taxpayers’ hard-earned money. This British Indian Ocean Territory should remain British.
I would strongly encourage constituents to read the transcript from the Opposition debate on the 20th October 2025 to gain a fuller understanding of the concerns I have outlined in this statement:
Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean T - Hansard - UK Parliament
