Julian Lewis
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(2 days ago)
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Sir Julian Lewis (New Forest East) (Con)
The Secretary of State for Defence (Wes Streeting)
Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for the United Kingdom and the United States. As I said in the US last week, our priority is to secure the long-term operation of the base and protect UK national security. To that end, we are working closely with Mauritius and the United States to secure an agreement that can command the support of all parties involved. Any arrangement must be acceptable to all of us, including President Trump, and that will be our focus in the coming months.
Sir Julian Lewis
In his discussions in the United States, did the Defence Secretary explain to our counterparts there that Mauritius is a signatory to the Pelindaba treaty, which means that no nuclear weapons can be deployed or stored anywhere on its territory? If Mauritius takes over the sovereignty of the Chagos islands, that means that no nuclear weapons can be stored in the Diego Garcia base. How did the Americans react to that disclosure, if the Defence Secretary saw fit to make it?
Wes Streeting
As a matter of policy, we obviously do not talk about the storage of nuclear weapons. Suffice it to say that however much people want to try to find another way around this, I can only assure the House that, having looked at this issue with a fresh pair of eyes, I have reached the same conclusion as every Prime Minister since Boris Johnson, including this one. That conclusion is that the capabilities provided by the Diego Garcia base make it extremely unwise—and a risk not worth taking—to have legal uncertainty, which is why efforts to negotiate a treaty continue. [Interruption.] Conservative Members may disagree now. If they do, they should explain why Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak) were all trying to achieve the same outcome.