Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill

Andrew Mitchell Excerpts

Committee of the whole House
Monday 20th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Wendy Morton]

I am going to make some more progress.

[Sir Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield) (Con)]

My right hon. Friend is doing a very good job of forensically demolishing the Government’s case, such as it is. May I just correct what the Minister has said from the Dispatch Box? There is a very great difference between carrying on and discussing negotiations, and doing a deal. As I was the Deputy Foreign Secretary under both my right hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Sir James Cleverly) and my noble Friend Lord Cameron, I can tell the House that the then Government would never, ever have done this deal. Secondly, I do hope my right hon. Friend will probe the Minister further on where this extraordinary amount of money is coming from. Is it the defence budget or is it the development budget? Since the Labour party—a Labour Government—has slashed development spending from—

[The Second Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (Caroline Nokes)]

Order. That is a very long intervention. Perhaps the shadow Minister should take over.