{"id":779872,"date":"2026-09-23T10:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/779872\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T10:38:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T10:38:22","slug":"chagos-islands-deal-cant-go-ahead-without-us-support-streeting-says-chagos-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/779872\/","title":{"rendered":"Chagos Islands deal \u2018can\u2019t go ahead\u2019 without US support, Streeting says | Chagos Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wes Streeting has said annual payments worth at least \u00a3120m to Mauritius are on hold as the government reconsiders its deal over the Chagos Islands<\/a>, after Donald Trump refused to back the agreement.<\/p>\n

The defence secretary said the payments would not be made \u201cat this stage\u201d and confirmed the deal \u201ccan\u2019t go ahead without US support\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last year, the UK signed a treaty to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands<\/a> to Mauritius, while retaining control of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease. Mauritius was also set to receive \u00a3165m for three years and \u00a3120m a year from the fourth year.<\/p>\n

Asked on BBC Radio 4 Today\u2019s programme if the payments would still go ahead, Streeting said: \u201cNot at this stage. We\u2019ve got to get to a point where we can agree a deal \u2026 This deal as it is currently constituted can\u2019t go ahead without American support. So we have to get a deal to a place where it commands American support as well as the agreement of the government of Mauritius<\/a> and our government.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the reason why that is important is because we are trying to safeguard, not just now but for the longer term, the base at Diego Garcia, and the capability it provides the United Kingdom and the United States for our national and collective security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Streeting said the payments would be a \u201cprice worth paying\u201d if they secured Britain\u2019s long-term ability to operate from Diego Garcia.<\/p>\n

Trump doubled down on his criticism of the agreement when he met Andy Burnham at the UN general assembly in New York on Tuesday, describing the deal to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as \u201cterrible\u201d. \u201cI don\u2019t support it,\u201d Trump told reporters after a bilateral meeting with Burnham on the fringes of the general assembly adding: \u201cI think it\u2019s a terrible deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

After meeting Trump, the prime minister said the government would \u201cwork hard\u201d to find a resolution that was acceptable to the different sides.<\/p>\n

Streeting said Trump\u2019s criticism had not come as a surprise to ministers. \u201cThis isn\u2019t news to us,\u201d he said, \u201cPresident Trump has been clear that he has concerns about the deal as it\u2019s currently constituted. We will work through the detail of the US concerns and seek to reach a point that all of us can sign up to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The agreement can\u2019t proceed as it is without US support because of the importance of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, Streeting said.<\/p>\n

The defence secretary also warned that Britain could not adopt an \u201costrich strategy\u201d of sticking its head in the sand and hoping the row over the Chagos Islands would go away, as he warned settling the dispute would involve \u201cpainstaking work\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strategy is not to wait out President Trump. I think the approach will be to work with President Trump and his administration,\u201d Streeting told Times Radio. \u201cI\u2019m not pretending that\u2019s an easy position and that resolving this is not going to be difficult. It is difficult and necessarily painstaking work, but it is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the ostrich strategy of sticking our heads in the sand \u2026 , I would caution is not a wise strategy when it concerns one of the most sensitive national security assets we have anywhere in the world,\u201d Streeting added.<\/p>\n

He also warned ignoring that Mauritius\u2019s claim to sovereignty posed its own risk to the military base\u2019s future. He said the ruling from the international court of justice in 2019 is \u201cadvisory now, [but] there is a potential further course of legal action avenue open to the government of Mauritius\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wes Streeting has said annual payments worth at least \u00a3120m to Mauritius are on hold as the government…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-779872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}