Chagos Islands: Sovereignty
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, when his Department first discussed the matter of Mauritius exercising full sovereignty over the Chagos Islands with (a) his international counterparts and (b) the Government of Mauritius.
Answered by Stephen Doughty
As the then Foreign Secretary's statement of 3 November 2022 describes, negotiations between the UK Government and the Government of the Republic of Mauritius on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago were started by the previous Conservative government in November 2022. It was the Conservative government which made the key concession of offering to give up sovereignty, from which there was no coming back. Please see the written statement published on Thursday 3 November 2022: [https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2022-11-03/debates/22110340000007/ChagosArchipelago]
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