UK-Mauritius Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago

Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke Excerpts

Monday 30th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Liddell of Coatdyke (Lab)]

My Lords, at times this afternoon, I was beginning to think that I had turned into my namesake, Alice Liddell, walking through the looking glass. The speech that began this debate was from a noble Lord who had been a Minister in the previous Government. His attempts to knock back everything that had been achieved were quite remarkable.

I take this opportunity to compliment the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Prentis, and the noble Lord, Lord Boswell, on their historic speeches, one entering the House and the other leaving it. I will miss the noble Lord, Lord Boswell. He kept me out of trouble when I first became a Member of this House by keeping me on the straight and narrow in the Truro Room of the Library.

I did not focus much on Diego Garcia until I joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I had to be brought up to speed very quickly on how critically important that involvement in Diego Garcia was as we looked forward to the challenges and problems that may lie ahead. I went to Australia, and the Australians certainly understood the critical nature of the base and how important it had become. It had always been important for the countries of the southern hemisphere, but it was important to many other countries as well. That US-UK amalgamation on the island has brought great benefits to the security of this country, because the operation there is unique and gives extra clout whenever there are challenges to our peace.

Our allies, not just the Five Eyes communities of the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand—along with ourselves—but India, Japan and South Korea, strongly support the deal. The former Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, now the Australian ambassador to Washington and an expert on China, has said that this is a good outcome for Mauritius, for Australia, for the UK and for our collective security interests. India called the agreement on Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia,

“a milestone achievement and a positive development for the region”.

Had there been any further delay after the 11 meetings that the previous Government had, we could have lost this critical asset. Patience was wearing thin in Mauritius. It took just two further meetings to resolve the issue, and if the Mauritians had finally lost patience, we could have lost this vital asset. We got a conclusion that was positively welcomed by Gibraltar, which has similar concerns about its future role. That is a very important way of summing it up. The Chief Minister said:

“I am very clear that there is no aspect of this decision, the Advisory Opinion or the Treaty … which has any negative read across to Gibraltar”


I take very much on board the criticism there has been of how the Chagossians have been treated. It is a very good idea of the Government’s to finance a new trust fund for Mauritius to use in support of the Chagossian community, even down to supporting visits by Chagossians to the archipelago, including Diego Garcia. It is sensible, and it is caring. We cannot redo what happened in the past, but we can express our understanding of the pain and suffering that many Chagossians went through.

The Government want to build a positive relationship with the Chagossian community, built on respect and an acknowledgement of the wrongs of the past. The Mauritian PM has also reconfirmed his commitment to supporting the creation of a marine protected area around the archipelago—that is quite a commitment. Diego Garcia is not like the Isle of Man, close to the coast of the UK; it is 1,250 miles from Mauritius, so it is good that we have that commitment.

Had we not moved when we did—and this was mentioned by some of our distinguished legal colleagues—courts were already making decisions that could have undermined our goals, and we could have faced legally binding provisions affecting the waters around Diego Garcia, much to the delight of our enemies. The unique capabilities we have built on Diego Garcia could have been lost, and we would have had no way of preventing potential enemies setting up installations on nearby islands or carrying out joint exercises. That is one of the key things that have come out of this arrangement, and I commend it to the House.