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The UK is about to signal a controversial deal handy over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as quickly as Thursday, in accordance with individuals acquainted with the matter.
The deal, which is anticipated to see the UK agree a multibillion-pound fee to retain entry to the Diego Garcia US-UK navy base whereas transferring sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, has been keenly awaited owing to the positioning’s strategic significance.
The long-planned association for the British Indian Ocean Territory has been closely criticised by the opposition Conservative occasion, which has accused UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of giving up a key strategic asset and saddling taxpayers with giant funds to retain entry.
However US criticism of the association has been muted beneath President Donald Trump. The US and UK are set to retain entry to the bottom beneath a 99-year lease.
Priti Patel, shadow UK international secretary, mentioned on Wednesday that the deal could be “a betrayal of our nationwide curiosity by Labour, conveniently timed for the final day earlier than parliamentary recess”.
After the UK’s conclusion of a post-Brexit reset in relations with Brussels earlier this week, “it appears Starmer is now set on additional humiliating this nation by handing over our personal sovereign territory to Mauritius, after which asking the British public to pay billions for the indignity of it”, she mentioned.
Labour beforehand mentioned the deal wouldn’t be finalised till it had been ratified by MPs.
Get together officers have argued that the deal was initiated beneath the earlier Conservative authorities and that it was important to succeed in an settlement over the islands’ sovereignty beneath worldwide legislation.
The UK authorities handed the US administration a veto in impact over the draft settlement, given its safety implications for a joint UK-US navy base on Diego Garcia.
However when Trump hosted Starmer on the White Home in February, he signalled he would support the deal that the UK had negotiated with Mauritius, in what was considered as an necessary victory for the British prime minister.
The president’s assist for the deal got here as a aid to the UK as a result of some Trump administration officers, together with former national security adviser Mike Waltz, had raised considerations concerning the association earlier than becoming a member of the White Home.
“The prerogative of President Trump is to safe long-term US operations from Diego Garcia,” a White Home official mentioned on Wednesday. “President Trump mentioned this with PM Starmer throughout his go to to the White Home. The UK is continuing with the deal.”
