Latest news with #ChagosIslands
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
UK signs deal with Mauritius to seal future of US-UK air base
Britain signed a deal on Thursday to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after a London judge overturned a last-minute injunction and cleared the way for an agreement the government says is vital to protect the nation's security. Sean Hogan has more.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
China hails Keir Starmer's surrender of the Chagos Islands to leave PM facing furious demands to apologise for 'peddling lies' over his deal
Sir Keir Starmer is facing furious demands to apologise for 'peddling lies' over his Chagos Islands deal - after China hailed the PM's surrender of the territory. After he signed the agreement to hand over sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius last week, Sir Keir claimed that Russia, China, Iran were opposed to the deal. By comparison, the PM said the UK's allies - such as the US - were in favour of the agreement as, he argued, it boosted Britain's national security. The Tories and Reform UK, who are both opposed to the deal, reacted with fury to Sir Keir's claims as the PM bracketed them together with Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran. He is now facing calls to retract his remarks after China was revealed to have offered its 'massive congratulations' to Mauritius for securing the sovereignty agreement. According to the Guido Fawkes blog, Mauritius newspaper Le Mauricien reported on comments by the Chinese ambassador to the African country. Huang Shifang is said to have offered 'massive congratulations' to Mauritian ministers, adding that China 'fully supports' Mauritius in its 'quest to safeguard national sovereignty'. After the Chinese diplomat's words were revealed, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and her senior shadow ministers tore into the PM. 'Keir Starmer claimed those who opposed his £30billion taxpayer-funded Chagos surrender were siding with hostile states,' Mrs Badenoch posted on X/Twitter. 'But China has now welcomed his deal. He should retract his comments and apologise.' Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said: 'Once again, Keir Starmer has been caught peddling a lie. 'He claimed that those who opposed his mad plan to surrender the Chagos Islands were in league with hostile powers – whilst himself handing over control of our own sovereign territory to a nation firmly in China's grasp. 'And now China itself has welcomed the deal, knowing that Labour weakening our national security is at their benefit. 'Keir Starmer must apologise, and retract his baseless slander.' James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, penned a letter to the PM to demand a formal apology over his 'deeply offensive and ill-judged claim'. 'Your suggestion that His Majesty's Opposition is somehow siding with China has now been proven to be factually inaccurate as they support your deal,' he wrote. 'But when we have supported you so strongly on Ukraine, and backed your military action against Iranian-backed Houthis, to be accused effectively of siding with China, Russia and Iran is totally unacceptable.' Under the terms of Sir Keir's deal, Britain is paying Mauritius to lease back the joint UK-UK military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Indian Ocean islands, for 99 years. In a press conference last week, the PM said the total cost of the agreement would be just £3.4billion. But official documents showed the UK will actually pay Mauritius £165million a year for the first three years to lease Diego Garcia. It falls to £120million a year for the following decade and then £120million adjusted for inflation for the rest of the 99-year lease. The documents showed Britain will also pay £45million a year for 25 years - more than £1.1 billion in total - into a fund for 'projects that promote the ongoing economic development and welfare of Mauritius and its people'. There is also a one-off fund of £40million to help Chagossians displaced by the creation of the Diego Garcia base in the 1970s. Some reports suggested the true cost of the handover will be closer to £30billion in cash terms, assuming an average of 2 per cent inflation. That figure is around three times the annual GDP of Mauritius. In the same press conference, Sir Keir said of his deal: 'In favour are all of our allies, the US, Nato, Five Eyes, India.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Team Keir climb the lifeline thrown by Nige the narcissist
Even the losers get lucky sometimes. This hasn't been the best few weeks for the prime minister. Headlines dominated by the winter fuel allowance and the Chagos islands deal. Little credit for his trade deals with India, the US and the EU. An economy that still feels as if it's on life support. All reflected in the latest YouGov voting intention polls, which put Reform on 29%, eight points ahead of Labour. Hold an election now and Nigel Farage could be heading for No 10. Or not. Because on Tuesday, Keir Starmer was handed a lifeline. By Farage himself. Quite what Nige thought he was doing is another matter. Maybe he just wanted everyone to know he was still alive. Had bothered – briefly – to return to the UK from his holiday, reportedly in France, not realising he could have spent an extra week on the sunbed as parliament is now in recess. But even if no one had been missing Nige, Nige had been missing himself. He only truly feels alive when there is a camera to record his presence. If he speaks when there is no microphone to record his words, has he actually said anything? It's a major philosophical and existential dilemma for any narcissist. So Nige did what he always does on such occasions. He announced he would be giving a press conference. That was the start of it all unravelling. Normally, Farage just likes to talk about himself, immigration and all things woke. These are his safe spaces. The ones where he indulges himself and is, in turn, indulged by his audiences. Only this time, Nige decided to stray off-piste by talking about the economy. Quite why he did this is anyone's guess. Maybe he felt invincible with such a large lead in the polls. Maybe he has convinced himself he is now an expert on anything on which he pronounces himself expert. Either way it was a big mistake. Because while Nige thought he was parking his tanks on Labour's lawn – the city trader turned man of the people – what he was actually doing by pledging an end to the two-child cap on benefits and a new basic rate tax threshold of £20,000, was revealing a policy portfolio costing £50bn to £80bn. The sort of thing that wipes out a politician's hard-won credibility in an instant. Back in No 10, Team Keir couldn't believe their luck. Could Farage really have been this half witted? They played back the recording of the press conference several times, hardly believing what they were seeing. But it was there in front of them. They hadn't been mistaken. It was time to arrange their own entirely pointless press conference to point out the fault lines in Nige's own entirely pointless press conference. First find a location. 'We need a factory,' said Morgan McSweeney. 'What kind of factory?' a junior member of the comms team asked. 'A factory that makes something. It doesn't matter what. Just so long as it is about three hours from London. Preferably somewhere the train services are usually delayed. Be good to get a quick plug in for nationalising the railways at the same time. 'That will be the west coast mainline then. Can't go wrong. How about Glass Futures in St Helens? There's bound to be an hour's taxi ride involved once the train is stuck at Crewe.' 'Glass Futures sounds ideal. Just the right degree of pointlessness.' One phone call to Glass Futures later, to assure them the press conference would indeed be entirely pointless and wrapped up in under 20 minutes including questions, and all was agreed. Thursday morning would be a day to remember. Keir began his speechlet by trying to remember where he was. Ah, yes! Glass Futures. When he found out what they did, he was sure he'd be impressed. 'I'm thrilled to see what you are doing here,' he said, 'because when you see what you are doing, you can see what you are doing.' One day, Starmer might learn to talk human, but this wasn't that day. Then on to the main substance. Farage was a bad man. Someone not to be trusted. While Starmer had fought to save jobs at Jaguar Land Rover, Nige wanted the company to go bust. Just because he had taken a dislike to one of their adverts. More than that, Nige couldn't be allowed near anyone's mortgage. His policies were just fantasy economics. He would crash the economy. No wonder he was planning to make his next speech from a casino in Las Vegas. Farage made Liz Truss look positively sane. That took some doing. So stick with me. I might be boring. I might sound like faulty Amstrad software. But your jobs and futures are safe with me. Just time for a handful of questions. Most of the unhelpful variety. Centred on why he had arranged for so many Westminster journalists to travel to Merseyside for what was essentially a five-minute party political broadcast. Wasn't this all just a bit weird? A government with 403 seats running scared of a party with just five MPs, four years out from the next election. Keir shook his head. It was vital the whole country be informed of the damage a Reform party could do as soon as possible. There wasn't a moment to waste. A couple of journalists tried to ask whether Starmer had any plans to lift the two-child benefits cap himself, but his memory went hazy at that point. The Guardian's Peter Walker then wondered if it was not answering questions on the cap that made Starmer less popular than Farage, who could at least approximate sentient approachability. That 'approximate' was damning. Both for Keir and Nige. Starmer thanked the Guardian for reminding him of the two-child limit before taking a minute or so to not answer it for a third time. Perhaps the most telling line came from ITV, who asked about the Tories. Starmer could barely stay awake. They were nobodies. Out of road. Sliding into the abyss. They were no longer a credible opposition. Losers. The real battle was between Labour and Reform. And this time it was personal.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Pick-and-mix approach to international law will make UK less secure, says attorney general
The UK faces 'disintegration' and will become 'less prosperous and secure' if it takes a pick-and-mix approach to international law, the attorney general has said. In a speech on Thursday, Richard Hermer launched a defence of international law and multilateral frameworks which 'have kept us safe since 1945'. He rebuked the leader of the Conservatives, Kemi Badenoch, and her shadow attorney general, David Wolfson, who have accused ministers of rigidly following international law, and said 'their arguments if ever adopted would provide succour to [Vladimir] Putin'. 'Their temptingly simple narratives not only misunderstand our history and the nature of international law, it is also reckless and dangerous, and will make us less prosperous and secure in a troubled world,' he said. Hermer, who is a human rights lawyer and former colleague of Keir Starmer, was appointed the government's chief law officer when Labour entered office last summer. Earlier this year he was attacked in sections of the press over his past clients, and also faced claims from internal critics that he was slowing down the work of government. He has also faced criticism over the government's decision to agree to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after an advisory ruling by the international court of justice. Giving the annual security lecture at the Royal United Services Institute, Hermer defended the government's approach to international relations and accused Tory critics of a 'deeply unworldly' stance. 'Their analysis is the precise opposite of realistic – it is deeply unworldly, fit for a university debating chamber perhaps, but not the world in which our enemies recognise the strategic benefits of the disintegration of the international rules-based framework,' he said. 'Let me be crystal clear: I do not question for a moment the good faith, let alone patriotism of the pseudo-realists but their arguments, if ever adopted, would provide succour to Putin.' 'In this dangerous world it is instructive to ask yourself: if the international law framework fails, if our multilateral institutions fall, then cui bono? Who benefits? The answer is obvious – it is our enemies who succeed. It is obvious that Russia and other malign state-actors see the undermining of the legal-based framework as a core objective.' Hermer also accused the previous Conservative government and particularly Boris Johnson, who served as both a foreign minister and a prime minister during that period, of undermining the UK's reputation on the world stage. 'No one can sensibly argue that the bombast of Johnson increased the standing of the United Kingdom in the globe – that people took us more seriously as a result of his shtick, that either allies or adversaries were impressed by the doctrine of 'cakeism' or thought our reputation or reliability enhanced by legislating to deliberately breach international law,' he said. He argued that 'it is a great British value to say that we want to make the world a better, safer and more prosperous place. There is no contradiction in our view between approaching the world with both a hard head but also a warm heart.' Nonetheless, Hermer argued, international law was 'incomplete' and 'must be critiqued and reformed and improved'. In what will be regarded as a criticism of the way the European convention of human rights (ECHR) is being interpreted by some judges, Hermer said that 'states agreeing to treaties some time ago did not give an open-ended licence for international rules to be ever more expansively interpreted or for institutions to adopt a position of blindness or indifference to public sentiment in their member states'. Ministers are reviewing how article eight of the Human Rights Act, which enshrines the ECHR in domestic law, is being applied to allow irregular migrants to stay in the UK.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Starmer has just handed China a massive victory
Britain is going ahead with the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Despite intense legal challenges, Starmer has agreed to pay Mauritius 3.4 billion pounds for the privilege of surrendering a critical group of Indian Ocean atolls. While supporters of the Chagos Islands handover hail it as the endpoint of British colonialism in Africa, its critics rail against the agreement's devastating impact on Britain's status as a world power. As the UK wants to be a powerful bridge state between the US and Europe and views the East of Suez strategy as a critical component of Global Britain, this loss of prestige is detrimental for Britain's post-Brexit foreign policy vision. Outrage over Britain's Chagos Islands handover is about more than imperial nostalgia or concerns about geopolitical decline. It also stems from a righteous indignation about Britain's empowerment of its primary great power adversaries. Mauritius's foreign policy orientation makes Starmer's Chagos Islands handover a dangerous proposition. In 1972, Mauritius became the first African country to establish an embassy in Beijing. It has since become a valuable beachhead for Chinese economic influence in Africa's Indian Ocean littoral region. In October 2019, China and Mauritius signed a free trade agreement which ensconced a trade imbalance that is highly beneficial for Chinese exporters. Even though Mauritius's entire GDP is just over $14 billion, China exports $1 billion to the country each year. Mauritius is also strengthening its partnership with Russia. In April 2023, Mauritius's Ambassador in Moscow Heswar Janke declared that Russia had grown in prominence as a 'player' for the island nation. Mauritius is deepening cooperation with Russia in the fisheries sector and has mulled granting access to Russian Mir credit cards. Mauritius's tightening partnerships with China and Russia amplify its role as a force multiplier for the Indian Ocean strategies of both countries. Since its first anti-piracy deployment to the region in 2008, China has markedly increased its hard power footprint in the Indian Ocean. From 2022-25, China carried out four trilateral maritime exercises with Russia and Iran, which signifies the region's rising strategic importance for Britain's most dangerous adversaries. Mauritius's Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has countered these critiques by insisting that he will not enable China's purported military ambitions in the Chagos Islands. This narrative has been implicitly amplified by Starmer's government which insists that the Chagos Islands handover would guarantee the long-term sustainability of the UK-US Diego Garcia base. These claims are less reassuring than they seem. Mauritius's negotiations with Britain over the Chagos Islands were fraught with heated disagreements. Mauritius expressed concerns about Britain's unilateral ability to extend the original ninety-nine-year lease for Diego Garcia without its input. It argued that the lease did not adequately account for inflation or currency exchange rates. While Britain's final offer to Mauritius made compromises on key areas of objection, frustrations with the past negotiations still linger. These grievances raise questions about the sincerity of Mauritius's willingness to abide by Starmer's Chagos Islands deal. Minister of State for Europe, North America and the Overseas Territories Stephen Doughty justified the negotiations with Mauritius by warning that international legal courts could deny Britain sovereignty over the Chagos Islands. With China and Russia's tacit backing, Mauritius could be tempted to renege on what it sees as an undesirable agreement and disrupt the Diego Garcia base's operations. As China sees its military presence in the Indian Ocean as a potential enabler of its aggressive designs in the Indo-Pacific region, this scenario could unfold during a conflict over Taiwan or the South China Sea. This would neuter Diego Garcia's effectiveness and Western power projection to counter China when it is needed most. To forestall this outcome, India is strengthening its ties with Mauritius and leveraging this relationship to counter Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean. In March, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ramgoolam announced that the India-Mauritius relationship had been upgraded to the status of an 'enhanced strategic partnership.' India's praise of Britain's Chagos Islands handover deal reflects its glee at its elevated geopolitical role. Starmer's handover of Chagos Islands is an unforced error that reduces the autonomy and efficacy of British defence policy. An increasingly insecure Indo-Pacific theatre just got much more parlous.
