Sir Keir Starmer remains “confident” that a deal can be reached on the Chagos Islands “in the coming weeks”, the prime minister of Mauritius has told his parliament.
Answering questions in the Mauritian National Assembly on Tuesday, Navin Ramgoolam said Sir Keir had discussed the prospect of a deal with him in a telephone conversation on Friday.
He said: “The British Prime Minister informed me that he intends to push ahead with the agreement reached between Mauritius and the United Kingdom on the Chagos archipelago.
“We remain confident that it will reach a speedy resolution in the coming weeks.”
The UK had reached an agreement on returning sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius with the previous Mauritian government last year, but Mr Ramgoolam insisted on renegotiating the deal when he came to power in November.
The prospect of a deal has caused controversy in the UK, with the Conservatives claiming it would undermine national security because of the presence of a joint UK-US military base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia.
The UK plans to lease back the strategically important base for 99 years at a reported annual cost of around £90 million.
It could also make relations with the new administration in Washington difficult.
Senior members of Donald Trump’s team expressed concern that ceding control of the islands could weaken Western influence in the Indian Ocean and strengthen the reach of China, although Mauritius is one of only two African nations not to have signed up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and has close ties to India.
A renegotiated Chagos deal, which Mr Ramgoolam said confirmed Mauritian sovereignty over the islands and required mutual agreement to any extension of the lease on Diego Garcia, is currently being reviewed by the Trump administration.
Mr Ramgoolam told the National Assembly: “President Trump is not a wolf. Let him see if the agreement is good or not.
“Now the British have, late in the day, decided that, yes, it is better to let the new administration have a look, that is what the situation is.”
Mr Ramgoolam added that the renegotiated deal could see Britain pay more than the sum it had agreed with his predecessor, describing the earlier deal as a “sellout”.
He said the revised agreement would see the UK’s annual payments to Mauritius linked to inflation and frontloaded, which he suggested could double the amount Britain was due to pay.
Mr Ramgoolam added: “We have to be inflation-proof. What’s the point of getting money and then having half of it by the end. This is what would happen, we have made the calculations.”
Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel criticised the prospective deal, saying: “Starmer has the audacity to tell British taxpayers they will foot the bill for his disastrous surrender deal, as he isolates the new US administration by bending the knee to Mauritius and emboldening our enemies as he compromises our national security.
Downing Street said it had “no update” on the situation on Tuesday morning.
