The Chagos deal has been “completely destroyed” and Labour’s plan is “undermined” by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, campaigners have revealed.
Speaking to GB News, Barrister for Keystone Law James Tunbridge and head of Communications at Friends of the British Overseas Territories Robert Midgley explained that a certain article of international treaty prevents the Chagos Islands from being given away.
The judicial review into Sir Keir Starmer’s deal with Mauritius has been frozen for almost four months, with Chagossian representatives being forced to seek a new judge.
Pinpointing the legislation which could collapse the entire deal, Mr Midgley told GB News: “So over the past few months, we have been writing a series of questions to MPs to try and find specific details about the Chagos negotiations.
“And on Friday, the minister from the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) confirmed a very crucial detail which undermines the whole legal case from the UK Government.
“So back in May 2025, the Defence Secretary said that Diego Garcia had to be given away because there’s an imminent legal ruling and a court case may take place, and he said that it could be from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
“And then on February 4, the Foreign Office confirmed that the US was fully aware about the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, and that’s the reason why we have to give them away.”
Mr Midgley then added: “However, there’s an article within that tribunal called Article 298, which exempts the Chagos Islands from ever been given away, basically.
“The Foreign Office has confirmed to us that Article 298 does exist, it is active, and we are signed up to it.
“So this undermines the whole legal case that Defence Secretary laid out in Parliament, and it completely destroys the whole purpose of the deal. It means this deal does not need to go ahead, it doesn’t even need to exist.
“So there’s a lot of questions now about whether potentially Parliament has been misled, but of course, Parliament has to decide that for itself.”
Robert Midgley and James Tumbridge have told GB News that a key Article has ‘completely destroyed the deal’
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GB NEWS
Despairing at the current delay to negotiations, Mr Tunbridge made clear that the Chagossians have been waiting “four months for a decision that normally takes one day”.
He explained: “There is very clearly an issue here of parliamentary procedure, what’s going on and whether the Parliament understands the important decision they’re making.
“Separately, we have a judicial review case, we started it last June because we knew this was coming and we wanted to do it urgently.
“And initially we got some urgency, eventually we got what’s called a permission hearing in October where you stand up, you speak to a judge and you say this is why it matters.
“And fundamentally what we’ve been saying is the people, the Chagossian people should be consulted. When you do this, it’s a very significant change.
“Why won’t you talk to the people? That’s the heart of our case.
“We’ve been waiting four months for a decision that normally takes one day, and so we’ve taken a very unusual step, we applied on Friday for a new hearing and a new judge, which you don’t normally do. But we can’t wait forever.”
The treaty transferring sovereignty of Chagos to Mauritius was signed last May | GB NEWS
Asked what their next steps are in trying to block the Chagos deal, Mr Midgley urged the Government to “withdraw” the deal, in light of Article 298.
He said: “What’s next is that we’ll be lobbying Lords, MPs, to complain to the speakers, that this whole thing has undermined the deal.
“They can maybe summon the ministers to question them about this Article 298 and where we stand with it.
“We already have written confirmation, and the Bill may be coming back on the 24th, so perhaps that will be delayed.
“To be honest, the Government should now withdraw it and that’s really important they do, because it takes the deal completely off the table.”
Mr Midgley told GB News that the Government should ‘withdraw’ the Chagos deal
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GB NEWS
Weighing in on the Chagos deal, GB News Political Editor Christopher Hope said we can expect to see “much more” on Article 298 when MPs return to Parliament next week.
He said: “This is hard, this is different, and we’ll be seeing more of this when MPs return to the House of Commons next week.
“This Article 298 of this UN treaty undermines the reasoning for this rush to hand over the Chagos Islands.
“It was due to various court rulings this UN Convention, and it means that this won’t apply to Diego Garcia, these islands.
“Why are we doing it? There’s no need to, it’s £35billion. I think the MPs supporting these campaigns will get stuck into this one again.”