Keir Starmer has been temporarily banned from concluding its negotiations on the Chagos Islands deal by a High Court judge. We’ll be bringing you the updates on this Breaking story
Keir Starmer has been temporarily banned from concluding negotiations on the Chagos Islands deal by a High Court judge.
An injuction was granted in the early hours of the morning by a High Court judge – hours before the PM was due to sign-off the deal at a virtual ceremony. It follows a bitter decades-long battle over sovereignty of the remote islands which includes a key UK-US military base on the island of Diego Garcia.
Chagossians were expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for the military base, in one of the most shameful examples of modern British colonialism.
The PM is due to attend a virtual ceremony today alongside representatives from the Mauritian government to sign off the deal, which allows the UK to lease Diego Garcia for 99 years, with an option for a 40-year extension.
The PM was due to sign off on the Chagos Islands deal handing them over to Mauritius today but an junction blocking him from doing so was granted in the early hours of the morning.
In the injunction granted at 2.25am on Thursday, brought against the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Mr Justice Goose granted “interim relief” to Bertrice Pompe, who had previously taken steps to bring legal action over the Chagos deal.
Mr Justice Goose said in his order: “The defendant shall take no conclusive or legally binding step to conclude its negotiations concerning the possible transfer of the British Indian Ocean Territory, also known as the Chagos Archipelago, to a foreign government or bind itself as to the particular terms of any such transfer.”
It emerged in October that the UK will give up sovereignty over the remote set of islands in the Indian Ocean after a bitter decades-long battle.
The International Court of Justice previously ruled the UK’s administration of the territory was “unlawful” and Mauritanian sovereignty was recognised by the UN General Assembly and the international tribunal of the law of the sea (Itlos).
The Government said the Chagos Islands deal is the “right thing” for the UK after the court injunction temporarily blocked the agreement from being concluded. A Government spokesman said: “We do not comment on ongoing legal cases. This deal is the right thing to protect the British people and our national security.”