Mauritius is considering legal action against the UK over the delay in ratifying Sir Keir Starmer’s Chagos Islands deal following criticism from Donald Trump.
Last year, Sir Keir agreed a controversial deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while paying the Indian Ocean island £3.4bn over the course of a century to retain control of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
However, the plan has effectively been put on hold after the US president issued a series of scathing criticisms about the deal.
In what is the latest in a string of blows for the prime minister’s contentious plan, the Mauritian prime minister told local reporters he was “exploring legal avenues” after delays put a hole in the country’s budget.
“We are exploring legal avenues in the Chagos case,” Mauritian prime minister Navin Ramgoolam told Defi Media.
“We are exploring all possible avenues, but clearly the 2026-27 budget will not be an easy one.”
However, it is understood that the UK government believes there are no grounds in international law for Mauritius to obtain compensation if the treaty is not ratified.
The UK has agreed to pay Mauritius at least £120m annually during the 99-year agreement to lease back the site, a total cost in cash terms of £35bn.
“Our position on Diego Garcia is crystal clear,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
“Retaining control of Diego Garcia is the entire basis of the agreement that we’ve reached. As we’ve said before, it is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US that has enabled our shared security for nearly 60 years.
“It is the only way to ensure that the base remains secure and operational in the long term.”
The deal was plunged into fresh chaos last month after a minister suggested his plan to cede sovereignty of the British territory had been paused after Mr Trump urged the UK to scrap it.
The Foreign Office later claimed that the minister “misspoke” and rapidly issued a clarification saying that “there is no pause”. However, it conceded that the plan is now dependent on the Trump administration agreeing to it.
Mr Trump expressed his disapproval of the plan once again this week, telling reporters that the UK has “ruined relationships” over the “stupid island”.
Appearing to refer to the Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands, Mr Trump said: “That island… It’s taken three, four days, for us to work out where we can land there; it would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours, so we are very surprised. This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
He added: “I will say the UK has been very, very uncooperative with that stupid island that they have, that they gave away and took a 100-year lease; having to do with, perhaps, indigenous people claiming the island that never even saw the island before. What’s that all about? They’ve ruined relationships.”
An FCDO Spokesperson said: “Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US that has enabled our shared security for neatly sixty years.
“Maintaining control of Diego Garcia is the entire basis for the agreement that we have reached. It means we retain our control, protects against legal challenges to its operation and locks out our adversaries from being able to compromise its operation.
“It is the only way to ensure that the base remains secure and operational for the long term.”
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