Labour ministers have “conceded” Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial Chagos deal is dead after Donald Trump’s public opposition to the proposals.
Mr Trump described the agreement to cede control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as “terrible” in his first face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Following the meeting, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the deal “can’t go ahead without American support”.
Senior Whitehall sources have now told The Times ministers were under “no illusion” that the existing deal, signed by Sir Keir last year, could be resurrected.
Officials are now planning to restart negotiations with Mauritius, with one source claiming it might be possible to make “cosmetic” changes to the agreement.
However, another source admitted the Government would “have to go back to the drawing board”, adding: “The challenge is keeping the Mauritians onboard.”
Striking a more optimistic tone, one Whitehall source suggested the initial agreement with Mauritius had been made under a previous government and that Mr Burnham did not feel bound by it.
Despite this, they conceded it would be difficult to negotiate a brand new agreement that pleased both Mauritius and the US.
Donald Trump disavowed the Chagos surrender deal in his first meeting with Andy Burnham
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GETTYKey facts about the Chagos Islands | GB NEWS
Under the terms of the deal, Britain agreed to pay the island country £165million a year in the first three years of the 99-year deal, dropping to £120million annually from year four, in exchange for the continued operation of a joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Mr Trump described the islands as “a very important piece of real estate, militarily and strategically”, when he met Mr Burnham on Tuesday in New York.
Referring to the treaty, he told reporters at the United Nations General Assembly fringe meeting: “I don’t support it. I think it’s a terrible deal.”
After their meeting, Mr Burnham said the Government would “work hard” to find a “resolution between the different sides”.
Wes Streeting addressed the state of the Chagos deal
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GB NEWSMauritius’s claim to the Chagos Archipelago was backed by an International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in 2019.
Mr Streeting earlier told Times Radio that while the ICJ’s ruling was “advisory now, there is a potential further course of legal action avenue open to the government of Mauritius”.
He warned that further action is “too great a risk to carry on”, in case the UK and US had to give up their military presence on the islands.
He said the administration led by former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer “got to a point where they clearly believed they did have the support of all parties involved” before concerns were raised in Washington.
James Cartlidge said he would take ‘every penny of Labour’s crazy Chagos deal” to fund the UK armed forces
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GB NEWSShadow Defence Cecretary James Cartlidge said: “It shouldn’t have taken another intervention from the president for Andy Burnham to ‘review’ Labour’s Chagos surrender deal.
“If Burnham was really serious about our defence, he would know that this deal should be binned entirely.”
The senior Conservative frontbencher said he wanted “every penny of Labour’s crazy Chagos deal” to fund the UK armed forces.
Meanwhile, deputy Conservative Party leader Alex Burghart said he hoped Mr Streeting would walk away from plans to give up control of the Chagos Islands completely.
The Chagos Islands became British in 1814 under the Treaty of Paris | GETTY
Mr Burghart said: “It was a crazy idea, right? Just a crazy idea that these islands that have been British for a very, very long time should be given to Mauritius, who’ve never owned them, and that the British people should pay, I think, £35billion for the privilege of doing so.
“Hopefully this whole thing is dead.”
Asked why the Conservatives began talks with Mauritius, Mr Burghart said his party in government at the time “strongly disagreed” with the ICJ’s judgment but the ruling “starts a diplomatic process”.