UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reportedly put his Chagos Islands deal with the United States on hold as relations with President Donald Trump deteriorate, following Washington’s failure to formally confirm its approval.
Trump had urged Starmer to abandon the agreement despite previously expressing support for the treaty. Earlier in January, he described the plan as an “act of total weakness”.
UK government officials say the deal, which would transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, has not been fully scrapped. However, there is no longer enough time to pass the necessary legislation before Parliament is prorogued in the coming weeks.
A new Chagos Bill is also unlikely to feature in the King’s Speech in mid-May. The UK has yet to receive a formal exchange of letters from the United States, a legal requirement for the treaty to take effect, according to the BBC.
Under the proposed deal, the UK would transfer sovereignty to Mauritius while paying an average of £101 million annually to lease back the joint UK–US military base on Diego Garcia.
The Chagos Islands were separated from Mauritius in 1965, before Mauritius gained independence. The UK bought the islands for £3 million, but Mauritius maintains it was forced into the deal. The creation of the military base led to the displacement of thousands of Chagossians, many of whom later resettled in Mauritius, the Seychelles, and the UK, particularly in Crawley, West Sussex.
