UK shelves Chagos handover after Trump criticism

LONDON: Britain is shelving its plan to hand back the Chagos Islands — which hosts the strategic Diego Garcia US-UK military base — according to a government spokesperson Saturday, following strong opposition from US President Donald Trump.

“We have always said we would only proceed with the deal if it has US support” the spokesman said in a statement, as reports said legislation to return the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius was due to run out of time in parliament.

Trump in January lashed out at what he called London’s “great stupidity” over the deal.

Last May, Britain agreed to hand back sovereignty to Mauritius while maintaining a lease on Diego Garcia, the largest island, which is home to the military base now used by the United States.

Trump had endorsed the deal after it was signed but launched a scathing attack on it in Truth Social comments in January.

Diego Garcia was one of two bases which the UK allowed the US to use for what the British government insisted were “defensive operations” in its war against Iran.

The Chagos agreement would have seen Britain hand the archipelago — some 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) northeast of Mauritius — to its former colony and pay to lease the US-UK military base there for a century.

Starmer has previously insisted that international legal rulings have put Britain’s ownership of the Chagos in doubt and only a deal with Mauritius can guarantee that the base remains functional.

Britain kept control of the Chagos Islands after Mauritius gained independence in the 1960s.

But it evicted thousands of Chagos islanders who have since mounted a series of legal claims for compensation in British courts.

In 2019, the International Court of Justice recommended that Britain hand the archipelago to Mauritius.

The deal would have given Britain a 99-year lease of the base, with the option to extend.

The UK government has not said how much the lease would cost but has failed to deny that it would be £90 million ($111 million) a year.