Chagos Islands: Sovereignty
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the agreement to cede sovereignty of the Chagos islands to Mauritius on the risk of espionage from hostile states.
Answered by Luke Pollard
The negotiations between the UK and Mauritius on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands were announced in the House of Commons on 3 November 2022 by the then Foreign Secretary. Their aim was to ensure the continued effective operation of the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia.
We now have this historic agreement, that ends the uncertainty over the future of the base on Diego Garcia, which plays such a crucial role in regional and international security. We have full Mauritian backing for robust security arrangements, including preventing foreign armed forces from establishing themselves on the outer islands, or otherwise undermining the effective operation of the Base, meaning the base is more protected than ever from foreign malign influence in a more insecure world.
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