Chagos deal in doubt after Trump veto

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Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said that the treaty with Mauritius on the islands’ future could not go ahead without Washington’s backing.

The US maintains a huge military base at Diego Garcia on the islands, which the deal negotiated by Sir Keir Starmer was designed to secure.

Mr Streeting said: “This deal, as it is currently constituted, can’t go ahead without American support.

“We have to get a deal to a place where it commands American support, as well as the agreement of the government of Mauritius and our government.”

President Trump has vacillated on the plan over the last 18 months, but has now come down in firm opposition.

Sitting next to Prime Minister Andy Burnham at a press briefing after their meeting in New York, the president said of the deal: “I don’t support it.

“I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal. Strategically it’s very important. I think the Prime Minister is going to be looking at it.”

Mr Burnham meekly responded “yes” at that point.

What this means, according to Mr Streeting, is working with the US “to get to a point where both the governments of Mauritius and the UK but also the Americans can sign up to this, because Diego Garcia is extremely important to the Americans as well as to us and our collective security.”

However, he did not indicate a rethink on ultimately ceding British sovereignty over the islands. “That’s not really been in doubt since we decolonised,” he said.

The planned treaty involved Britain paying Mauritius over the next century for rights to retain the US base at Diego Garcia.  

Legislation giving effect to the deal was paused in parliament after Mr Trump started kicking off about it, largely because Sir Keir had failed to give fulsome enough support to the attack against Iran.

In his speech to the general assembly, Mr Burnham outlined a role for Britian in bringing people together.

He said: “We are America’s closest ally. We have deep ties with our friends in the European Union and will deepen them further.

“We work with China and emerging powers like India and Brazil. We sit on the security council, in the Commonwealth and in the trans-pacific partnership,” he added.