Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office minister Hamish Falconer said the UK government is pausing the Chagos Islands sovereignty transfer deal for discussions with the US. However, a Foreign Office spokesperson clarified that there is no pause in the Chagos Islands sovereignty transfer deal. Multiple reports indicate the plan to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is dependent on the Trump administration agreeing to it. According to those reports, US President Donald Trump withdrew his support for the Chagos Islands sovereignty transfer deal, telling Keir Starmer it would be a big mistake. It remains unclear what specific conditions or assurances the Trump administration requires to agree to the deal.
Legal developments have complicated the situation, with a court ruling overturning a ban on people living on the outer Chagos Islands. The ruling quashed a 2004 law and an order for Chagossians to leave. Justice James Lewis concluded that the government's previous national security and defense arguments against repopulating the islands no longer apply due to the Mauritius deal. He estimated the cost of the Mauritius deal to the UK taxpayer at £51 billion, higher than previous estimates. The UK government has lodged an appeal against the court ruling that overturned the ban on living on the outer Chagos Islands. Whether the UK government will succeed in its appeal remains uncertain.
We are here for the long term. We are resettling the islands.
Chagossian activism has intensified, with a group of Chagossians, led by Misley Mandarin, returning to one of the Chagos Islands last week. According to The Independent - UK News, Misley Mandarin described their effort as a long-term resettlement, not a publicity stunt. He opposes Keir Starmer's plan to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and insists Chagossians want to stay British. British authorities handed eviction notices to Chagossians who returned to the islands, but a court ruling allows them to stay until at least March 13.
The international context includes a 2019 International Court of Justice ruling that the Chagos Islands belong to Mauritius, but this ruling was not binding on the UK. The UK has agreed to pay Mauritius at least £120 million annually for 99 years to lease back the Diego Garcia military base. The European Union is seeking to secure fishing rights in the waters of the Chagos Islands following the sovereignty transfer to Mauritius, according to major media reports. Those reports suggest the EU believes the sovereignty transfer could increase the relevance of its existing fishing agreement with Mauritius by opening ocean areas around the archipelago to French and Spanish vessels. How this pursuit will impact the Marine Protected Area and conservation efforts is not yet known.
Any rational reason for passing the provision has now disappeared, if there ever was one.
Political criticism has emerged, with shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel accusing Keir Starmer of treating Chagossians as an inconvenience and calling for the deal to be abandoned. The Chagos Islands have been under a Britain-enforced 'no take zone' since 2010 as part of a Marine Protected Area, according to major media reports. The exact timeline for when the UK government plans to bring the treaty legislation back to parliament for ratification is unclear, and alternative plans if the deal collapses due to US opposition or legal challenges have not been disclosed.
A claimed power to exclude a whole population must be justified by legal source, not administrative necessity.