UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago

Lord Alderdice Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Alderdice (LD)]

My Lords, I look forward to the maiden speech of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Prentis of Banbury, and the valedictory speech of the noble Lord, Lord Boswell of Aynho. As a resident of Fringford, a small village not far away from either Banbury or Aynho, I have a personal interest in the handing on of the baton of parliamentary responsibility. I express my personal appreciation of both noble Lords.

Turning to the Motions before us, as a member of your Lordships’ Select Committee on International Relations and Defence, I have spent some considerable time with my committee colleagues trying to understand the background to the issues, the process of negotiation by the previous Conservative Government and the current Labour Government, and the implementation of the agreement reached with the Government of Mauritius, which the international community has agreed shall be the sovereign Government.

In the short time available to me, I will try to deal with the key issues raised by the International Relations and Defence Committee in its letter to the Foreign Secretary. First, on defence, I ask the Minister whether each time the Diego Garcia base is used, particularly by our US colleagues, as a base for an aggressive military operation, will we as the leaseholder be asked for permission? How will the Government deal with requests for such military attacks on others if we are not happy with those requests, considering that our agreement may well be regarded by those attacked as our participation in such a military adventure? The same applies, in a slightly different way, to the Government of Mauritius. It would be extremely helpful if the Minister could say what he thinks about that.

Other noble Lords have observed the enormous importance of the precious marine environment in which the Chagos Islands sit. I wish to be somewhat further reassured by the Minister that His Majesty’s Government will be intimately involved in the monitoring of the conduct of the marine environment there in collaboration with the Government of Mauritius.

However, my main focus is and has to be on the Chagossian people. They have not been well treated over the years by the United Kingdom. It is not at all clear to me that it was necessary to remove them all from the whole of the archipelago in the first place. Can I be assured that His Majesty’s Government will explore the possibility of employing at least some Chagossians to access employment opportunities at the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia? It has been the case in other parts of the world with British bases; why not here? If it is not possible, the Government must surely provide a detailed written justification for their exclusion from resettlement in their own home islands and also contribute to their welfare and well-being as a community.

I say “as a community”, but the Chagossians, as we know, are not all of one view about their future. That is a challenge in terms of assessing what they want, but it is not a reason why there should not be a formal consultative mechanism with the various groups in the Chagossian community, as well as a facility to monitor, collaboratively with them, the implementation of the agreement and to ensure their meaningful inclusion in decision-making about the future of their islands. I ask the Minister to give the most sympathetic consideration to the Motion so ably proposed by my noble friend Lord Purvis of Tweed, which gives His Majesty’s Government a route to fulfilling their moral obligations and responsibilities to the Chagossian people.

Finally, it has been suggested that the Government are paying to cede sovereignty, but surely this is not the situation. The Government have said that they have agreed to cede sovereignty, but once that is done, there will be no further rights. It seems to me that the Government have been trying to negotiate, as the previous Conservative Government tried to negotiate, a leasehold for the continued use of the islets for military purposes. One question about that funding is its amount, but perhaps the most important question is whether there is properly thought-through and objective oversight of the considerable funding that is being made available to provide for the future of the Chagossian people. It should not simply be left to the Government of Mauritius to decide that. We need to try to ensure that the Chagossian people also have a say about that money.