UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago

Debate between Lord Boateng and Lord Murray of Blidworth

Monday 30th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Murray of Blidworth (Con)]

Does the noble Lord agree that our claim to sovereignty stems from the treaty that we agreed in 1814?

[Lord Boateng (Lab)]

A treaty signed under duress.

Let us be very clear: these islands are African islands. These islands are inhabited by African people brought there as slaves in the economic interest of Britain and France. So, it ill behoves the noble Lord or any of us to assume a position of moral or ethical superiority when it comes to the Chagos Islands.

It must also be said, and I say so with great reluctance, to the noble Lord, Lord Mancroft, for whom I have the utmost respect, that he described the Chagossians as a people about whom we know nothing. They are a people about whom we—