US President Donald Trump’s opposition to the UK’s agreement to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has thrown the future of the deal into fresh uncertainty, with Defence Secretary Wes Streeting saying it cannot proceed without American support.
Mr Streeting said on Wednesday that the UK would “not at this stage” make the annual payment of at least £120 million to Mauritius that forms part of the 99-year agreement.
Asked whether the payment would go ahead, Mr Streeting told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Not at this stage. We’ve got to get to a point where we can agree on a deal.”
The intervention follows a highly public disagreement between Mr Trump and Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who appeared to agree with the US president after he described the Chagos agreement as “terrible”.
Mr Streeting said the proposed transfer of sovereignty “can’t go ahead without American support”, underlining Washington’s importance to the future of the strategically significant Diego Garcia military base.
The UK agreed last year to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while retaining access to Diego Garcia, a major US-UK military facility in the Indian Ocean. The arrangement included a £40 million fund for Chagossians expelled from the islands and annual payments to Mauritius of at least £120 million over 99 years.
The overall cost of the payments is expected to reach about £35 billion in nominal terms.
Mr Streeting indicated that the government remained prepared to pay a substantial sum if the agreement could guarantee long-term access to Diego Garcia.
“That would be a price worth paying,” he said, if it secured Britain’s ability to use the military base over the long term.
The dispute has taken on greater strategic significance following tensions over access to Diego Garcia. The White House has raised concerns after the US was reportedly unable to refuel bombers at the base during operations against Iran.
Mr Trump made his opposition explicit during a press appearance with Mr Burnham.
“I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” Mr Trump said.
“[Mauritius] all of a sudden says they have ownership. Somebody has ownership that never showed up before, after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous.”
Mr Burnham, who inherited the agreement from the previous government, acknowledged the need for a revised settlement.
“I’ve inherited the situation, and we need a resolution,” he said.
“It’s critical to safeguard the future of the base, and that matters to us for security reasons, but also clearly to the United States as well.
“So what I said in the meeting is that we will work to find that resolution between the different sides, and we’ll work hard to find it.”
The confrontation leaves the government facing a delicate balance between its treaty commitments to Mauritius and the strategic interests of its most important military ally.
For London, the central issue is no longer simply the future sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, but whether an agreement can be constructed that satisfies Mauritius while preserving unrestricted and long-term access to Diego Garcia for Britain and the United States.
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