Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the comments made by the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, during Departmental Questions on 1 September 2026, how much of the funding for the UK- Mauritius Treaty on the Chagos Archipelago will be allocated from the existing spending review settlement for the Ministry of Defence.

The joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia is crucial to the security of the UK and our key allies, and to keeping the British people safe. Maintaining long-term operational control of Diego Garcia is the entire basis for the UK-Mauritius Agreement on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). This is the best way to ensure that the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia remains secure and to protect its operations from legal challenge.

The UK continues to engage closely with the United States and Mauritius on the way forward for the UK-Mauritius Agreement.

Discussions regarding the Chagos treaty are ongoing and any future decisions will be managed as part of the Department's usual financial planning processes.