Burnham must kill off bonkers Chagos deal for good
The proposal to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and pay for the privilege appeals to no voters and has lost the support of Donald Trump. Andy Burnham should pull the plug, says Eliot Wilson It became clear early in Sir Keir Starmer’s brief premiership that here was a leader of unusual political [...]
British Labour Party MP and shadow health minister Andy Burnham should abandon a historic agreement with Mauritius that transfers sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, according to political analyst Eliot Wilson. The deal, which would see the United Kingdom pay Mauritius billions of pounds for a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia, a strategically important U.S. Navy base, is unpopular with voters and has lost the support of former President Donald Trump.
The agreement, which was signed in 2019, is based on a legally dubious claim that the UK illegally separated the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965. However, the Chagos Islands and Mauritius have never been a single country and were governed together for administrative convenience. The International Court of Justice issued a non-binding advisory opinion in favor of the Mauritian claim in 2019, but this did not change the fact that the agreement is based on flawed reasoning.
Burnham's decision to withdraw from the agreement would be a logical move, as it would not gain support from any voting bloc and would only benefit Mauritius. The agreement has been widely criticized as a one-sided and exploitative deal that does not make sense, and Burnham's leadership could bring an end to this misguided policy.
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