12 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleEwan SomervillePolitical reporter
GettyThe UK is reviewing its deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, the defence secretary has said.
Wes Streeting confirmed the deal was being looked at again after US President Donald Trump called it “terrible” at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
The original agreement would see the UK cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius and pay an average of £101m ($136m) per year to lease back a joint UK-US military base there, prized for its strategic location in the Indian Ocean.
In April the deal, agreed under Sir Keir Starmer, was paused indefinitely because Trump pulled his support.
Streeting said “we have to” review the deal “because the United States doesn’t support it”.
“What President Trump said yesterday wasn’t new but I think it does provide absolute clarity that his position on this Chagos deal as currently drafted is not changing,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“So we have to do more work with our American allies, with President Trump and his administration, to get the deal to a place where we can support it.”
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