CP
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing accusations that he downright lied to the British people, after promising in Labour’s 2024 manifesto to defend the sovereignty and self determination of Britain’s Overseas Territories, only to pursue the handover of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius once in power.
Labour’s actions stand in stark contradiction to the pledge clearly printed in the party’s election manifesto, and critics contend that the scale of the reversal is serious enough to constitute an intentional misrepresentation.
In one of the most staggering political about-faces in recent British history, Labour has advanced legislation to strip away British sovereignty from the Chagos Islands without securing democratic consent from the Chagossian people and without permitting full parliamentary scrutiny.
The Broken Pledge
Labour’s manifesto stated unequivocally that it would defend the sovereignty and right to self determination of the British Overseas Territories.
British Indian Ocean Territory, BIOT, was one of them. Yet Labour is now attempting to dissolve BIOT entirely, handing sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and replacing ownership with a long term lease so the UK can continue using one of the islands, Diego Garcia for military operations.
The promise to defend sovereignty has become a promise to rent it back, and the promise to defend self determination has become a decision imposed without the consent of those whose lives and history are most affected.
Chagossians Overwhelmingly Reject the Handover
If Labour claims this policy respects Chagossian wishes, the evidence says otherwise. A worldwide poll of more than 3,500 Chagossians, an extraordinary sample given that only around 8,000 to 10,000 Chagossians exist globally, showed that over 99 percent of Chagossians want the islands to remain British.
They overwhelmingly want the right to return to their homeland as British citizens, under British sovereignty, not under Mauritian control. This is one of the clearest democratic signals the Chagossian community has ever given, and yet the Labour government has chosen to ignore it.
It is a remarkable contradiction. Labour insists it is delivering justice, while disregarding the democratic voice of a displaced people who have repeatedly suffered the consequences of decisions taken about them rather than with them.
The Lords Consultation and Government Silence
Adding to the controversy, the House of Lords held its own survey with the Chagossian community last month. Yet many participants have sharply criticised the exercise, calling it flawed, narrow in scope, and poorly administered. The survey required Chagossians to answer questions in English, even though a significant number do not speak the language, and several Chagossian organisations have dismissed the process as unrepresentative and have rubbished its conclusions.
Further concerns have erupted after videos began circulating online that appear to show Mauritian authorities interfering in the UK’s democratic process, allegedly completing consultation responses on behalf of Chagossians who do not speak English.
The government is expected to issue its formal response to the Lords survey on 18 December. Critics say this response is likely to ignite a major political flashpoint and may reveal how little weight the government intends to give to Chagossian opinion.
Compounding the uncertainty is a judicial review, brought by the Great British PAC, which is still awaiting judgment and could have significant implications for the legality of the handover process.
A Scramble Toward January
After the government’s response in December, the bill returns for its final Lords reading in January. Only after this final stage can the treaty be ratified.
This means Labour is ploughing ahead with a plan to give up sovereignty over a British Overseas Territory while
• the judicial review has not yet delivered its ruling
• the Lords consultation has been discredited
• parliamentary scrutiny is incomplete
• the Chagossians’ overwhelming rejection of Mauritian sovereignty is being ignored
It Makes No Strategic or Financial Sense
Beyond the moral and democratic issues, the government’s strategy is baffling on a practical level. Keeping the islands under British sovereignty would save British taxpayers billions in long term lease payments and defence costs. Yet Labour is choosing to hand the islands over and then pay Mauritius to rent back Diego Garcia, the crucial UK and US military base that underpins regional security.
This upside down arrangement has left defence analysts, parliamentarians and taxpayers alike questioning why a government would voluntarily surrender strategic territory, undermine its own bargaining position, and saddle the country with new financial obligations for decades to come.
A Reputation in Freefall
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has attempted to defend the decision as a strategic necessity, but critics point out that the UK could have secured continued access to the Diego Garcia base without surrendering BIOT sovereignty. Legal experts warn that the move is constitutionally reckless, particularly with a judicial review still pending and with no meaningful democratic participation from the Chagossian community.
Serious strategic questions have also been raised. Mauritius is a signatory to the Pelindaba Treaty, which prohibits nuclear weapons from being stationed or transported through its territory or territorial waters. Analysts note that, from the very moment sovereignty is transferred, Mauritius would be legally obliged to enforce these restrictions. This would effectively disarm the US and UK nuclear strategic capabilities in the region and hand significant leverage to a state that maintains notably close ties with China.
Far from demonstrating integrity, transparency or respect for international law, Labour’s handling of Chagos has raised serious doubts about its judgement, its competence, and its willingness to honour its own manifesto.
A Government at War With Its Own Promises
The Chagos handover was supposed to bring closure, but instead Labour has created a crisis.
A government that promised ethical leadership now stands accused of sidelining Parliament, ignoring a displaced community, dismissing an unrepresentative consultation, pre empting a judicial review, and abandoning the very electoral commitments it claimed to hold sacred.
Labour pledged it would always defend the Overseas Territories. But the Chagos process shows that “always,” under this government, lasts only until it becomes politically inconvenient. The decision not only tears up a promise made directly to voters, but signals to every Overseas Territory that manifesto assurances are optional, expendable, and subject to quiet reversal behind closed doors. And by choosing to hand sovereignty to a state increasingly aligned with China’s strategic orbit, the government’s actions raise profound questions about judgement, consistency, and the credibility of future pledges.
Read Labour’s Manifesto here. On page 120 it clearly says “Defending our security also means protecting the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, including the Falklands and Gibraltar. Labour will always defend their sovereignty and right to self-determination.”
Link: https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Labour-Party-manifesto-2024.pdf
This article (Starmer Lied Over Chagos, Manifesto Pledge in Tatters as Labour Pushes Ahead With Sovereignty Handover) was created and published by Conservative Post and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author CP
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