Britain is giving up sovereignty of a remote group of islands in return for securing the long-term future of a strategically important military base. The UK Government said it has reached a political agreement with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, following negotiations which began in 2022. Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat said: “This is a shameful retreat undermining our security and leaving our allies exposed.” Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00The jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice is only there when states agree.
00:04The UK should not agree that the jurisdiction applies in this case.
00:07We should never have agreed.
00:08We should not have begun the negotiations in November 2022.
00:12And a paper by Richard Eakins in Policy Exchange and a second one forwarded by the then Lord
00:18Chancellor Robert Buckland sets out exactly why this was such a bad idea.
00:22What it does is it means that although the airbase, which is jointly UK-US operated,
00:28is maintained on a 99-year lease, the other outlying islands go back to Mauritian sovereignty.
00:35Now there are many other countries which would be interested in a permanent base in the Indian
00:40Ocean, China being one of them.