19th Oct 2026 16:37
(Alliance News) - Wes Streeting has pledged to press ahead with negotiations relating to sovereignty of the Chagos Islands after looking at the issue "with a fresh pair of eyes".
In his first oral questions in the Commons as UK Defence Secretary, Streeting told MPs that he came to the same conclusion as every prime minister since Boris Johnson that a deal was necessary.
The UK signed a treaty in May last year to cede control of the British Indian Ocean Territory in exchange for securing the continued operation of a joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.
The UK agreed to pay Mauritius GBP165 million a year in the first three years of a 99-year deal, dropping to GBP120 million annually from year four.
However, US President Donald Trump has described it as a "terrible deal" and the progress of legislation that would give effect to the treaty was paused, with the government saying it could not go ahead without American support.
Streeting said on Monday that it would be a "risk not worth taking to have legal uncertainty", referring to the fact that Mauritius's claim to the Chagos Archipelago was backed by an International Court of Justice [ICJ] ruling in 2019.
He said: "Having looked at this whole issue with a fresh pair of eyes, I've reached the same conclusion as every prime minister since Boris Johnson, including this one, which is the capabilities provided by that base makes it extremely unwise and a risk not worth taking to have legal uncertainty.
"That is why efforts to negotiate a treaty continue, and they [the Conservatives] may disagree now.
"If they do, they should explain why Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and [Rishi Sunak] were all trying to achieve the same outcome."
His comments came after Tory MP and former chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee Julian Lewis asked whether Streeting has told US defence secretary Pete Hegseth that Mauritius is a signatory of the Pelindaba Treaty.
The Pelindaba Treaty, officially the African Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone Treaty establishes the African continent and its associated islands as a nuclear-weapon-free zone.
Lewis said that means "no nuclear weapons can be deployed or stored anywhere on its territory", adding: "If Mauritius takes over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, that means no nuclear weapons can be stored in the Diego Garcia base."
By Abbie Llewelyn, Press Association political staff
Press Association: News
source: PA
Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.