Chagos should make the UK think again about its Overseas Territories

Sometimes governments are given an unexpected opportunity to reconsider a bad decision. Our Government has just been handed one over the Chagos Islands. It should take it.

The proposed agreement to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius is now effectively on hold. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed that Britain cannot proceed without American support, while the payments promised to Mauritius will not begin unless and until the treaty is ratified. That is significant. It should also prompt a much wider rethink.

As one of the parliamentary advisers to the Friends of the British Overseas Territories, I have watched the Chagos debate with increasing concern, not simply because of the enormous strategic importance of Diego Garcia, but because of the message it sends to Britain’s other Overseas Territories. The agreement signed in May 2025 would transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, while Britain would pay to lease back Diego Garcia for 99 years. The Government put the annual cost at £101 million and the net present value at £3.4 billion – others put the costs at a much higher level.

But there is a question taxpayers deserve to have answered clearly: which government budget is paying for this? If these payments are to be treated as a defence cost, then every pound committed to Mauritius is money within the defence settlement which cannot simultaneously be spent on servicemen and women, ships, aircraft, ammunition or rebuilding Britain’s depleted military capability. If additional Treasury money is being provided, taxpayers should be told that clearly too. Either way, this is public money and Parliament deserves complete transparency about where it is coming from and what other spending may consequently be displaced.

The proposition itself remains extraordinary: the UK gives away sovereignty and then pays billions for the continued use of strategically vital territory it currently controls. Ministers argue that the agreement is necessary to secure the legal future of the joint UK-US base and it is true that Diego Garcia provides what the Government itself describes as “irreplaceable” security capabilities. So why then would we give it away? Also the world has moved on since this deal was conceived.

President Trump has made his opposition clear. Prime Minister Andy Burnham now says he wants to find a solution with Washington and Mauritius. He should use the opportunity to ask the fundamental question: should Britain be giving Chagos away at all? There is also a wider issue for those of us who care deeply about the Overseas Territories. Britain has repeatedly assured Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands that their sovereignty will not change against the wishes of their peoples. Self-determination is rightly central to our relationship with the Territories.

Yet Chagossians themselves have repeatedly argued that their voices have been marginalised in negotiations over their homeland. Whatever view one takes of the historic injustices inflicted upon them, that should trouble us.

There are 14 British Overseas Territories. They are not historical inconveniences to be disposed of when international pressure becomes uncomfortable. They are communities with distinct identities and constitutional relationships with the United Kingdom. And others are watching.

Argentina watches Britain’s treatment of Chagos when considering the Falklands. Spain watches when considering Gibraltar. Other powers watch Britain’s willingness to defend strategically important territory.

The Government has now been given breathing space. Payments are on hold and our most important defence ally opposes the present arrangement. Instead of finding a cosmetic adjustment which allows the same agreement to stagger across the line, Burnham should reassess it fundamentally. And before another penny is promised, Parliament and the British public should be told precisely where that money is coming from.

Britain’s Overseas Territories need to know that our commitment to them is durable and steadfast. Chagos gives the Government an opportunity to prove it.

This article originally appeared on http://www.gbnews.com

Baroness Foster is a non affiliated peer and is a  parliamentary adviser to the Friends of the British Overseas Territories