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Labor acknowledges Keir Starmer’s controversial comments Chagos Islands The transaction may fail if Donald Trump Refuse to tear up the 60-year-old treaty.
enacted legislation will be in House of Lords On Monday, it was postponed due to warnings of possible breach of treaty with the United States us assertion U.K.has sovereignty over the islands.
The US president caused uproar in Downing Street this week by attacking Sir Keir’s plans to hand over the presidency. Chagos Islands arrive Mauritiusin a transaction The British government says this is necessary to ensure the future security of the important British and American military base Diego Garcia.
Ministers secured U.S. support for the deal last year. The president even told Sir Keir during a visit to Washington in February that he was “inclined to go with your country” and that he had a “feeling that things are going to go well”.
But the US president caused uproar in Downing Street earlier this week when he made a dramatic about-face, calling it an “extremely stupid act” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Sir Keir hit back, accusing him of trying to pressure Britain to support US plans to take over Greenland.
The two leaders also feuded over Trump’s accusations that British troops were avoiding the front lines in Afghanistan, which the U.S. president ultimately backed down on Saturday.
In a letter sent on Friday night, ministers acknowledged that ratification of the Chagos agreement would be impossible without U.S. cooperation in overhauling the 1966 treaty. telegraph reported.
Lord Callanan, shadow foreign office spokesman in the House of Lords, has written to the government asking whether the Chagos agreement is legal if the 1966 treaty remains unchanged.
The newspaper said Africa Minister Mrs Chapman responded by confirming that the Chagos Agreement would not be ratified “without the relevant domestic laws and international arrangements”.
Meanwhile, Misli Mandarin, the first minister of the newly formed Chagos government-in-exile, is expected to fly to the United States on Sunday to urge Trump to halt the Chagos agreement.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said her party had been engaging in “quiet diplomacy” with Republicans to “point out the risks this deal poses to national security”.
Another delay in the House of Lords comes after warnings the handover of the islands could breach a 60-year-old treaty with the United States, which advocates that U.K.sovereignty over the islands.
But the government angrily accused peers of interfering in Britain’s national security and “irresponsible and reckless behaviour”.
The legislation aims to provide a solid legal basis for the operation of the strategically important Diego Garcia military base, which has been used by British and American militaries since its establishment on the archipelago in the 1970s.
Ministers claimed the handover deal was necessary because an International Court of Justice ruling upholding Mauritius’ sovereignty claims threatened the future of the facility.
With promises to renew the 1966 agreement yet to be fulfilled, the Conservatives introduced a motion in the House of Lords on Friday morning calling for a delay in ratification of the treaty to avoid breaching international law.
Legislation underpinning the deal was due to return to the House of Lords on Monday for further scrutiny, but that will no longer happen.
A government spokesman said: “The government remains fully committed to the agreement to secure the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia, which is vital to our national security.
“This was irresponsible and reckless behavior by colleagues whose role was to check legislation, not interfere with our national security priorities.”