President Donald Trump’s last-minute opposition to a British deal handing off ownership of the Chagos archipelago appears to have stalled efforts to finalize the agreement.
A bill moving the deal forward has been delayed in Parliament, according to reports, though a senior Cabinet member said Prime Minister Keir Starmer remains “determined” to see the agreement through. Starmer will “pause for thought” on plans to bring legislation underpinning the deal back to the House of Lords, a senior U.K. government official told Politico, echoing a BBC report.
“First and foremost, the priority must be national security, and that is what this government is determined to deliver,” Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones told Times Radio, promising the bill would return to the House of Lords “as soon as parliamentary time allows.”
The development comes after Trump questioned Great Britain’s move to hand over control of the Chagos Islands, which hold a joint U.K.-U.S. military base, to the eastern African nation of Mauritius. The president has gone back and forth on this issue, reversing his opposition to the deal earlier this month, citing a “productive discussion” with Starmer, but later changing his tune again, saying earlier this week that the archipelago could be pivotal in staving off a potential Iranian attack. Though Trump remains opposed to the deal, the U.S. State Department recently backed it.
The proposed legislation was pulled last month ahead of an expected debate in the House of Lords, in the face of a Conservative-led amendment calling for a pause “in light of the changing geopolitical circumstances.” It was delayed after Conservatives warned it could violate a 60-year-old treaty with the United States that enshrines British sovereignty over the territory. The bill would cede British sovereignty to Mauritius. The United Kingdom would then sign a 99-year lease allowing it to use the military base it shares with the U.S. on the largest island on the archipelago, Diego Garcia, for over $135 million annually.
The Tories in late January called on ministers to ensure agreement is reached with the U.S. over the 1966 treaty, before the bill returns to the House of Lords, due to concerns that passing the bill without Washington’s blessing would breach international law. Article 1 of the treaty says that “the territory shall remain under UK sovereignty.” A vote on Starmer’s bill to hand over the islands was pulled from the parliamentary calendar, delaying it until Feb. 23 at the earliest.
In response to Trump’s latest turnaround against the deal, the U.K. Foreign Office said the Chagos Islands deal was “crucial to the security of the UK and our key allies, and to keeping the British people safe”.
“The agreement we have reached is the only way to guarantee the long-term future of this vital military base,” it said in a statement.
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Davies-Jones pledged that “conversations will continue to be had with the Americans and other allies, but as I’ve said, the priority is our base and national security,
“Just two weeks ago, they backed the deal, and this week the US backed the deal,” she said.