Sir Keir Starmer’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has been dealt a humiliating blow in the House of Lords after peers backed demands for a renegotiation.
In a vote which left the government reeling, peers backed a demand to renegotiate the terms of the deal in order to ensure payments stop if the military base on Diego Garcia could no longer be used.
The amendment, which was led by former military chiefs, was backed by 132 votes to 124 in the House of Lords and represented the fourth defeat for the prime minister in the upper house on the controversial deal.
The amendment stated that the government must make arrangements for terms of payments “should environmental or other issues make the military use of the Base permanently impossible”.
The UK has agreed to pay Mauritius at least £120 million annually during the 99-year agreement to lease back the site, a total cost in cash terms of at least £13 billion.
The government, however, estimates the bill will be lower at around £101 million a year while critics argue it will be much higher.
The Bill, which is needed to implement the treaty, has already been approved by MPs but has faced a bruising ride in the House of Lords.
Independent crossbencher Lord Houghton of Richmond, who served as chief of the defence staff from 2013-16, said: “Currently, the Bill makes no provision for the circumstances under which the requirement to pay an annual fee for the use of the Diego Garcia base is revisited in the event of the base becoming unusable for military purposes.”
In a veiled reference to US president Donald Trump’s intervention in Venezuela, Lord Houghton said: “Many in the chamber may think my concerns are drawn from the world of fantasy or nightmare, but do the last 72 hours not give serious cause for concern regarding our ability to predict with certainty the next two years of geopolitics, let alone the next 100?
“This treaty needs to cater far better for what the future might hold.”
Conservative shadow foreign minister Lord Callanan said: “It is unconscionable that British taxpayers should be forced to continue to fund the Mauritian government under the terms of the treaty in circumstances where the military base, which the treaty relates to and secures, has therefore become inoperable.”
Responding. foreign minister Baroness Chapman of Darlington said the treaty included a mechanism for dealing with developments relating to the base, while the deal was also covered by international law.
The Labour frontbencher added: “We are taking steps that are necessary to prevent the base becoming unusable and that, however hard hypothetical situations might be for us to imagine today, there are processes in place established by the treaty to resolve them.”
The government suffered a further setback as the Lords backed a Liberal Democrat measure requiring a referendum among the Chagossian community on whether the transfer deal adequately guarantees their rights to resettlement, consultation and participation in decision-making along with a government response to the result.
Up to 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly removed from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s, with many subsequently settling in Britain and some continuing to seek the right to return.
The upper chamber also backed a Tory demand for a detailed costing of the payments to be made to Mauritius under the agreement, including a full methodology used in calculating the total.
Another Liberal Democrat measure that would ensure parliamentary oversight over UK Government spending linked to the treaty, which would also allow MPs to halt payments if Mauritius was judged to have breached the terms of the deal was also backed.
The World Court urged Britain in 2019 to return the islands to Mauritius, and a deal was finalised in May after years of negotiations.
The amendments will likely be reversed by MPs when it is returned to the Commons, but the move will delay the formal agreement of the deal.
However, Tory shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: “ Once again Labour have suffered a humiliating defeat on their shameful anti-British Chagos Surrender Bill. At every stage of this process, the Government has sought to silence and ignore the Chagossian people and dodge scrutiny for the outrageous handover of British territory and £35 billion of taxpayers’ money.
“Keir Starmer is weak and incapable of standing up for Britain at home and abroad. Britain’s defence and security are at risk because of this terrible legislation. Only the Conservatives will stand up for Britain on the international stage.”
Chagossians have pressed for the deal to be scrapped in favour for one where they are given sovereignty over the islands.
A spokesperson for the Chagossians said: “We will continue to help hold support in the Lords and press the government for compromise. The Chagossians must be heard, and world security and the Chagos environment must be protected.”