{"id":16595,"date":"2026-04-18T12:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T12:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/16595\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T12:19:08","slug":"britain-must-stand-up-to-eu-on-cyprus-and-not-surrender-sovereignty-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/16595\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain must stand up to EU on Cyprus and not surrender sovereignty | Politics | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain must not allow its military bases on Cyprus<\/a> to become \u201cbargaining chips\u201d and should make it clear to the European Union that the sovereignty of these sites is not up for negotiation, the UK Government has been warned. Nick de Bois, a former MP who served as a special adviser at the Department for Exiting the European Union<\/a>, is alarmed by the pledge by EU leaders to support Cyprus as it seeks an \u201copen and frank\u201d discussion about the future of the bases.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cClarity is essential. The UK\u2019s position should be stated plainly: the Sovereign Base Areas are British; their status is settled; and their future is not open to negotiation with third parties. Anything less risks ceding control of the process \u2013 and, ultimately, the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The future of the bases has been pushed up the political agenda in Cyprus<\/a> after RAF Akrotiri was targeted in drone attacks following the US strikes on Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr de Bois said the EU statement that it \u201cstands ready to provide assistance as needed\u201d was \u201cnot a neutral step\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIt is an attempt by an external bloc to insert itself into a matter of British sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Enfield North MP said the bases are \u201csovereign British territory, established by treaty at independence in 1960, and they remain integral to the United Kingdom\u2019s strategic posture\u201d.<\/p>\n

He believes there is a \u201ccoordinated effort to reopen a settled question\u201d and warned: \u201cThe recent history of the Chagos Islands illustrates how long-standing arrangements can come under sustained challenge once their permanence is called into question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Britain has been forced to shelve a plan to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back the UK-US Diego Garcia military base following the withdrawal of American support for the deal. There would be cross-party concern if a similar arrangement was demanded in Cyprus.<\/p>\n

Cyprus remains a divided island and Mr de Bois said the south had \u201cacceded to the European Union<\/a> in a manner that entrenched division and left Turkish Cypriots effectively isolated\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThat episode raised legitimate doubts about the EU\u2019s ability to act as a neutral actor in matters relating to the island.\u201d<\/p>\n

The campaign group Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus argues: \u201cTurkish Cypriots cannot be excluded from any process concerning sovereignty, security, or the future of Cyprus.”<\/p>\n

Mr de Bois said the UK Government \u201cshould not allow informal or exploratory discussions to evolve into a process that implicitly questions the United Kingdom\u2019s legal position\u201d. Nor, he added, \u201cshould it accept the premise that external actors have any standing in determining the future of British territory\u201d.<\/p>\n

Armed forces minister Al Carns, a former senior officer in the Royal Marines, this month said: \u201cWe have to be really clear on this, the legal status of the sovereign base areas is rock solid,\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK Government is confident sovereignty over the bases is \u201cabsolute in legal terms\u201d and insists these sites \u201cmake a vital contribution to the security of Europe and the wider region\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain must not allow its military bases on Cyprus to become \u201cbargaining chips\u201d and should make it clear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16596,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1300,13,7800,313,1815,1301,1469,24,7799,7798],"class_list":{"0":"post-16595","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"tag-brexit-news","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-british-military-bases","11":"tag-cyprus","12":"tag-defence","13":"tag-eu-negotiations","14":"tag-european-union","15":"tag-iran","16":"tag-sovereign-base-areas","17":"tag-uk-cyprus-sovereignty"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116425678052945534","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16595\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}