The United Kingdom has announced plans to revisit its agreement to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, following criticism from US President Donald Trump. The deal, which was struck in 2025, would see the UK hand back the Indian Ocean archipelago to its former colony and pay to lease a strategic US-UK military base on Diego Garcia. Trump's administration has opposed the plan, with the US President branding it "terrible" during his first meeting with UK leader Andy Burnham.
The UK had previously confirmed in April that it was pausing the plans agreed last year between the Mauritian government and Britain's then-prime minister Keir Starmer. The move faced vocal opposition from Trump, who had initially supported the pact but later changed his stance. During their meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Trump said he believed Burnham would be reconsidering the "terrible deal", as the UK leader nodded in agreement.
Burnham later told broadcasters that Britain would "work hard" to find a resolution on the issue and that he was "confident we can find it working with our US partners". Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Trump's opposition was "not news to us" but that his latest comments "provide absolute clarity that his position on this Chagos deal as currently drafted is not changing". Streeting confirmed that annual payments worth at least £120 million ($159 million) to lease back the military base from Mauritius would not be made "at this stage".
The Chagos Islands have been a point of contention between the UK and Mauritius since the 1960s, when Britain evicted thousands of Chagos islanders who have since mounted a series of legal claims for compensation in British courts. In 2019, the International Court of Justice recommended that Britain hand the archipelago to Mauritius. The deal would have given Britain a 99-year lease of the base, with the option to extend.
James Cartlidge, defence spokesman for the main opposition Conservative party, said the agreement "should be binned entirely". However, Streeting told Times Radio that "The ostrich strategy of sticking our heads in the sand and hoping it (will) go away ... is not a wise strategy when it concerns one of the most sensitive national security assets we have anywhere in the world."
Jack Pannell, a senior researcher at the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, said Burnham's priorities with Trump would be on "the big international issues" like AI regulation, Ukraine and the Middle East. Pannell told AFP that "Success for Burnham means avoiding this issue becoming a millstone around his neck while he pursues his other foreign policy priorities and focuses on his domestic agenda."
On Tuesday, Trump signed a security deal with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark that will allow the US to build two military bases in southern and eastern Greenland. The move has been seen as a significant development in the region, and comes as the UK and US continue to navigate their relationship on issues such as the Chagos Islands.
Key points
- The UK has agreed to revisit its deal to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius following criticism from US President Donald Trump.
- The deal would see the UK hand back the Indian Ocean archipelago to its former colony and pay to lease a strategic US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.
- Trump's administration has opposed the plan, with the US President branding it "terrible" during his first meeting with UK leader Andy Burnham.
