The UK government has been forced to shelve legislation to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius, after the US dropped its support for the deal.
On Friday, UK government officials acknowledged they had run out of time to pass the legislation within the current parliamentary session, which will end in the coming weeks.
United States-UK The latest setback in Britain’s effort to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which hosts the Diego Garcia military base, is a sign of the deterioration in US-UK relations after Donald Trump heavily criticized Keir Starmer over his handling of the Iran war.
The US President has previously criticized the plan, which is supported by the US State Department, telling Starmer that he was making “a huge mistake” by handing sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius in exchange for allowing Britain and the US to continue using their airbases.
However, earlier in February Trump had described it as the “best” deal the Prime Minister had made under the circumstances. The US President also supported the transfer when Starmer visited the White House last year.
Under the agreement, Britain will hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, and lease the Achipelago’s largest island, Diego Garcia, for 99 years to continue operating a joint military base there.
The US did not formally exchange letters seeking to amend the 1966 British-American treaty on the islands, which is understood to have forced Britain to drop its bill.
Now, the new Chagos bill is not expected to feature in the king’s speech in May, where the government’s agenda for the upcoming parliament will be revealed.
In February, the Guardian reported that Trump changed his mind on supporting the deal because Britain would not allow its airbase to be used for a pre-emptive US attack on Iran.
Last month, Iran attacked a joint military base after warnings that British lives were in danger after Starmer authorized the US to carry out more strikes against British bases.
At the time, Foreign Office minister and former diplomat Hamish Falconer told MPs that discussions with US counterparts had been put on hold and that the process going through Parliament regarding the treaty would be brought back in due course.
Starmer has allowed the US to use UK bases such as Diego Garcia only for defensive operations against Iran. This month, he faced pressure to limit access after Trump threatened that “the entire civilization” would be destroyed if Iran ignored his demands, before a ceasefire was later agreed.
In an effort to prevent confusion around Faulkner’s comments, the Foreign Office said there were no restrictions or deadlines set, and the timing would be announced “in the normal way”.
The government has been contacted for comment.
