The new government in Mauritius has rejected UK Prime Minister's Keir Starmer’s deal to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, saying it "would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect".
New negotiations have started after Prime Minister Navin Ramgoola's administration submitted suggestions to the UK, which has since responded with counter-proposals.
Under the original agreement that was announced in October, Britain would hand over sovereignty to Mauritius over the archipelago but maintain a 99-year lease over Diego Garcia, which hosts a major UK-US military airbase. The deal was struck with Mr Ramgoolam's predecessor, Pravind Jugnauth.
The Prime Minister told his country's parliament on Tuesday that "the draft agreement which was shown to us after the general elections is one which, in our view, would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect from such an agreement".
"Therefore, Mauritius accordingly submitted counter-proposals to the UK so that an agreement which is in the best interest of Mauritius can be concluded. The response of the United Kingdom to our counter-proposals was received yesterday afternoon and is now being currently considered,” he added.
Senior figures in US president-elect Donald Trump’s coming administration have also voiced doubts over the agreement, which is aimed at securing the legal basis for the Diego Garcia base.
Mr Starmer’s national security adviser Jonathan Powell recently travelled to Washington to hold talks with the president-elect’s team about their concerns over the deal. Marco Rubio, Mr Trump’s pick for secretary of state, said in October the agreement posed "a serious threat" due to Mauritius’s close ties to China.
But Downing Street insisted the deal was necessary to resolve a long-standing legal dispute over sovereignty of the islands, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory.
It comes after Number 10 said last month that final details of the legal text of the treaty were being worked out, with the plan to put them before parliament for scrutiny next year.
The Prime Minister's spokesman said the UK had been engaging with the new Mauritian government on the deal.
"The agreement we've struck with Mauritius protects the long-term secure operation of the UK-US base, which plays such a crucial role in regional and international security," the spokesman said. "There's obviously been a change of leadership in Mauritius, and we've been engaging with the new administration on the details of the deal.
"We remain confident that the agreement is in both sides' shared interest." The spokesman refused to say whether the UK had offered more money to the Mauritians for the 99-year lease on Diego Garcia.
The Conservatives sent a letter to Mr Starmer saying the party had "grave concerns" about the deal and warned against "rushing it through" parliament before the Trump administration enters the White House.
Priti Patel and James Cartlidge, the shadow foreign and defence secretaries, said the deal was "wholly unsustainable" given the change of US administration and the "rejection" of the proposed deal by the new Mauritian government.
"If the Government has any inclination to try and salvage this deal by rushing it through parliament before the new US administration takes office, it should think again,” they wrote.
"At a very minimum you should wait for the new administration in the US to take office - but our view remains that the legal justification you have used for giving away sovereignty is flawed, and it is therefore no surprise that the terms reached are so disadvantageous to the United Kingdom."
Mauritius claims it was forced to give the Chagos Islands away in 1965 to gain its independence from Britain. In 2019, the World Court said the UK should give up control of the islands and said it wrongfully forced the population to leave in the 1970s to make way for a US airbase.
The UN's highest court, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, has ruled that Britain's administration of the territory is unlawful and must end.
A report from the Policy Exchange think tank last year argued that Britain should not relinquish sovereignty over the islands in return for “an unenforceable promise by a third country that the military base at Diego Garcia will be allowed to continue to operate in the future”.
