Starmer confirms £101m a year Chagos Islands deal

4 comments

1. Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed that the UK has agreed a £101m a year deal to hand over the Chagos Islands.

   The deal will hand the islands to Mauritius and then lease back the vital Diego Garcia military base – the net value of the payments under the treaty will reach £3.4bn.

   Elsewhere, teachers and doctors will get above-inflation pay rises over the next year, ministers have announced after the latest review of public sector pay.

   Both professions in England will receive a 4 per cent increase, according to statements released by ministers this afternoon, while other NHS workers will get 3.6 per cent.

   The British Medical Association called on Health Secretary Wes Streeting to enter negotiations over the pay award to “avert strike action”.

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2. Blinkered internationalist fantasy masquerading as decent foreign policy.

   No one outside a few international law people cared about the Chagos Islands, and the amount they are paying is ridiculous.

3. £101m a year to give away territory to a country which has never owned nor inhabited the islands would be laughable if it wasn’t so depressing.

   Add in the fact that this country also has strong links to China and the whole thing is bordering on criminal. All for what? To do the ‘right’ thing by following an advisory judgement just to make ourselves feel a little better about our colonial past.

   This doesn’t help us and it doesn’t even help the native Chagossians. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this dismayed in a political decision made by my government ever.

4. “if we follow the rules, they will too, right?”

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