Vanessa Calou has declared she “doesn’t trust” Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Government after being forced to deny the Chagos deal has been “paused”.
Speaking to GB News, the Friends of the British Overseas Territories lead cast doubt on there ever being a pause on the “surrender” deal, telling them to “take this seriously”.
Labour has denied pausing the handing over of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius on Wednesday after initially telling MPs that the Government is “pausing for discussions with our American counterparts”.
It comes as US support for the deal disintegrated, with President Donald Trump reversing his policy on the surrender of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Following his initial remarks regarding a “pause” in the process, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer confirmed that they are now “discussing those concerns with the United States directly”.
He said: “His Majesty’s Government’s objective has been and continues to be to secure the long term effective operation of the military base on Diego Garcia.
“It is a base critical for our national security, and helping to keep the British people safe. It is a key strategic military asset for both the United Kingdom and the United States.”
Hitting out at the confusion around a possible “pause” in the deal, Ms Calou told GB News: “As we know, we have a UK Government, a Labour Party in power that no one trusts. They always talk untrue and mislead Parliament, so I don’t believe that there is a pause.”
Vanessa Calou has cast doubt over the Labour Government’s ‘pause’ on the Chagos deal
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GB NEWS / PA
Criticising Mr Faulkner for backtracking on his remarks to MPs, she added: “We have a Parliament that when a minister says there is a pause in Parliament, it should be go by what the minister said in Parliament. We can’t go back later on and change it.”
Taking aim at the Prime Minister for his absence during an urgent question put to the Government in a Commons session by Nigel Farage, Ms Calou insisted Sir Keir “should have been there” for the discussion.
She stated: “The Prime Minister should be there in Parliament, and that is a failure on the public that are trusting him to be there.
“So for some reason he wasn’t there, but the people who replaced him said there is a pause. I don’t trust them, I don’t trust that Government.”
Nigel Farage asked an emergency question on the Chagos deal during Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions
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PAStressing that the Chagos Islands are “British territory” and “British land”, Ms Calou told GB News: “When we take responsibility, we need to take it seriously. They’ve been voted to be there and they’re failing their responsibility.
“Chagos is not in exile, our land is a British Land and is a British overseas territory, and the Government can’t remove and drag anyone from their own land.
“They will remove them where? We are British, the Islands are British and he can’t do that.”
Urging the Prime Minister to “bin” the Chagos deal, Ms Calou accused Sir Keir of “weakening the relationship” between the UK and US.
Ms Calou told GB News that the Labour Government is ‘failing at their responsibility’
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GB NEWS
She explained: “Keir Starmer should bin the Chagos deal, because he’s weakening our friendship with the UK-US and is not securing our safety here in the UK, because this strategic military base is a key in the world for the UK-US friendship.
“He’s weakening our relationship, so we need to know why he’s continued with his own agenda, he’s done other U-turns, why not have a 15th U-turn now?”
In a statement, a Government spokesman said: “There is no pause. We have never set a deadline. Timings will be announced in the usual way.
“We are continuing discussions with the US, and we have been clear we will not proceed without their support.”