Chagos sovereignty deal to be rushed through Parliament

Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC/MOD, National Archives 

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to use the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 to limit debate on the Chagos Islands sovereignty deal in the Houses of Parliament to three weeks. 

No. 10 confirmed this week that President Trump has given the go-ahead for the agreement to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This follows discussions with India.

Stephen Doughty, the Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories, stated the government will be using the 2010 Act to pass the treaty into law and that MPs will have “full scrutiny,” reports The Times. 

At the same time the International Agreements Committee, a House of Lords select committee, is exploring ways “to allow parliament more time” because MPs and Peers have “very little time to conduct detailed scrutiny”. The Committee is responsible for reviewing and scrutinising all treaties submitted to Parliament.

Lord Goldsmith, chair of the committee, said that the Committee will “assess what changes are needed so that parliament can properly exercise its role of holding the government to account in this area.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said this week that the deal would be ratified “in the usual way” through the Act, reports the Telegraph. International treaties are run past both the Commons and the Lords.

Under this process there is no guaranteed vote however. The deal will be laid before Parliament just three weeks ahead of its ratification. It will automatically taking effect unless MPs formally block it.

THE CHAGOS FILES asks why is the Government wanting to rush the Chagos Islands Sovereignty deal through Parliament?

Can it be before two court cases challenging the Deal - one by two Chagossian campaigners born on the territory and one by a group of Peers - start? Or to avoid the continuing bad press from the exclusion from Deal negotiations of many Chagossians who oppose Mauritian sovereignty? And the failure to consult the British public too?

TESSA CLARKE and ALEXIA PSALTI /UPDATED 4 APRIL 2025