UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago

Baroness Neville-Jones Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Jones (Con)]

My Lords, I apologise for not rising to speak in the right place on the list.

Diego Garcia is exceptionally important to western security and the UK, and the US are right to want to continue to have access to it, but the importance of that base rests on the ability of those Governments to operate without hindrance. Sovereignty becomes important if the parties to the agreement fail to agree on its implementation. That is where real-world worries arise. I will devote a moment or two to how the agreement is likely to pan out.

Other noble Lords have commented that the agreement has many shortcomings—so many that it is hard to see that the implementation will be smooth. There are areas where there is insufficient detail and areas where there will clearly be disagreement. Already, the Mauritian Government show signs of going back on some of the central provisions, such as the rent to be paid and the basic purpose of the marine protected area. One begins to ask whether we have a good-faith partner. I wonder. Others have remarked on the shameful treatment of the British Chagossians. That is a whole separate area of problems where something better can still be done.

The most worrying provisions of the agreement are those that impinge on the operation of the base. The opening is given by the agreement to the Mauritian Government entering into dispute over or interfering with decisions on things such as the equipment to be based there. Frankly, it is naive to think that an obligation to inform the Mauritian Government about certain operations, whether before or after the event—that is not the issue, although before the event would be extraordinary—does not affect the security of those operations. It is quite obvious that that increases the level of insecurity.

The Government say that the Americans support the deal. I wonder whether they have decided that it is not worth arguing at this stage. It is not clear to me that this agreement—I do not mean any agreement; I am talking about this agreement—puts us in a good position for the long term. I wonder whether, as technology and international politics move on, we may find that, far from being an important part of our general armoury, Diego Garcia becomes a very expensive white elephant.