Pressure mounted on Sir Keir Starmer to ditch his ‘terrible’ plan of surrendering the Chagos Islands amid mounting opposition from his own Labour MPs.
The Prime Minister faced calls to heed the concerns of Donald Trump and scrap the plan entirely – not just pause it.
Senior Labour backbench MP Dan Carden said: ‘This is not about obeying Trump – it’s about using common sense and doing the right thing for the country.’
The plea came after the surprise news on Friday that Sir Keir was pulling the next stage of legislation needed to ratify the controversial territory – which includes a giant joint UK/US military base – to Mauritius.
The Bill was due to be discussed in the House of Lords on Monday but the draft law was withdrawn just days after the US president came out strongly against the handover.
It also came after Tory peers demanded to know if the agreement complied with international law, with the Tories warned it would break a UN treaty between the UK and US in 1966 which stated: ‘The territory shall remain under UK sovereignty.’
But the Government insist that the deal – which critics say could eventually cost the UK £35 billion in payments to Mauritius, more than 10 times the Government’s estimate – will still go ahead.
A Government spokesman said: ‘The Government remains fully committed to the deal to secure the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia, which is vital for our national security.’
‘This is irresponsible and reckless behaviour by peers, whose roles is to check legislation, not interfere with our national security priorities.’
Pressure mounted on Sir Keir Starmerto ditch his ‘terrible’ plan of surrendering the Chagos Islands amid mounting opposition from his own LabourMPs. Pictured: Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands
Members of the Chagossian community gather in Parliament Square in June 2025 in protest against the UK handover of Chagos Islands to Mauritius
The plea came after the surprise news on Friday that Sir Keir was pulling the next stage of legislation needed to ratify the controversial territory – which includes a giant joint UK/US military base – to Mauritius
But the Mail on Sunday has learnt that some Labour MPs have increasing concerns about the plan and now want it scrapped all together.
Mr Carden, who so far has abstained on the proposal, came out against it entirely last night.
He said: ‘The Government should drop the Chagos deal.
‘National security and the sovereignty of British territory have to be our top priority.
‘The Government should snatch this victory from the jaws of surrender.’
The Liverpool Walton MP added: ‘Since the Government came to this agreement with Mauritius in October 2024, the world has changed….
‘This is no time to risk national security or sovereignty.
‘We need to use our common sense and protect ourselves and the rights of the Chagossians who are relying on us to do the right thing.’
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Former Labour Minster Graham Stringer, who has already criticised the handover, branded the deal ‘terrible’ and urged Sir Keir to rethink.
He said: Given that we now know that the US administration is definitely against this, I expect more Labour colleagues will now come out against this terrible plan.
‘No Labour candidate in the next election will proudly put on their electoral leaflets how we have given £35 billion to Mauritius while our health service and military are so short of money.’
The Blackley and Middleton South MP added: ‘Starmer needs to turn this “pause” in the legislation into a complete stop to this terrible idea.’
To the frustration of Labour Ministers, Mr Trump last week branded the UK’s plan to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands as ‘an act of great stupidity’ despite having previously endorsed it.
In the Commons, Sir Keir made clear that Mr Trump was criticising the Chagos deal now to put pressure on him over the UK’s opposition to the US president’s ambitions to seize Greenland.
