Sir Keir Starmer has been lambasted for his “undemocratic” Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius after being forced to deny there has been a “pause” in proceedings.
Speaking to GB News, Editor of the Chagos files Tessa Clarke said there has been a lack of “consideration” for the Chagossian people.
Labour was forced to deny that its deal to hand over the archipelago was put on the back-burner on Wednesday after MPs were told the Government was “pausing for discussions with our American counterparts”.
Following his initial response to Nigel Farage’s urgent question, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer later 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.”
Discussing the deal on GB News, Ms Clarke explained: “They are following in part the democratic process, meaning that this treaty has been signed by a democratically elected prime minister. It is now going through the House and then it will go to parliamentarians to vote on it, and that is a democratic process.
“What isn’t very democratic, in my opinion, is the fact that Chagossians’s rights have not been taken into consideration.”
Tessa Clarke has hit out at Keir Starmer’s ‘undemocratic’ Chagos deal as she declared the rights of Chagossians have ‘not been considered’
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GB NEWS / PA
She argued: “There is nothing in the treaty that guarantees their right to live on the islands, whether they are British Chagossians or Mauritian ones.
“There is nothing that says self-determination is a right that Chagossians can have, there is no inclusion of that and there is no guarantee, and that’s the missing democratic part of this.”
Questioned about President Trump’s frequent change in stance, Ms Clarke said his support will be “down to the finer details” surrounding Diego Garcia.
She explained: “It’s true that Trump has flip-flopped over this, and the recent U-turn in terms of the deal is actually a concern, it seems, by the President about Diego Garcia itself.
Nigel Farage has been outspoken on Chagos
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House of Commons Handout photo issued by the House of Commons of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions“So it might be that the Government and the US administration are discussing how to carve off the Diego Garcia bit from the general Chagos Islands Treaty.
“But again, that would involve undoing what two democratically elected heads of state from Mauritius and also Britain signed already a year ago.”
Ms Clarke continued: “So at the moment, yes, it’s true that David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has said when he was Foreign Secretary that the deal won’t go ahead without America’s support, but it looks like it’s down now to the fine tuning around Diego Garcia and the military base, and that’s something that it’s up to the British Government to reassure.”
Criticising MPs from across the political spectrum for not being more “outspoken” about the Chagos deal, she admitted to being “surprised” by the amount of politicians “remaining quiet” on the issue.
Ms Clarke told GB News that many MPs have ‘remained quiet’ on the issue
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GB News
She told GB News: “I would say that it’s surprising that not more MPs have been outspoken about this, whatever they think.
“Yes, the top leaders of different political opposition parties have said a lot in parliament and outside, but where are the rest of the MPs? What are they going to vote for? Why are so many Labour MPs quiet on this issue? They really are, and I think it’s time that MPs got a lot more engaged in it.”
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.”