A landmark agreement to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands from the United Kingdom to Mauritius has been indefinitely suspended due to opposition from former US President Donald Trump, Foreign Minister Stephen Doughty confirmed in Parliament.
Under the proposed treaty, Britain would have ceded control of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius while paying approximately £101 million annually to lease back the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia for 99 years. The total lease arrangement was valued at £3.4 billion.
Doughty told the House of Commons that updating the 1966 UK-US agreement governing the Diego Garcia base had become "impossible to agree at political level" between the two countries, despite the treaty having been negotiated in close coordination with both current and previous US administrations.
"In recent weeks, the position of the United States president appears to have changed," Doughty stated. "This means that, in practical terms, it has become impossible to agree at political level an update to the 1966 UK-US agreement concerning the Availability for Defence Purposes of the British Indian Ocean Territory."
The minister confirmed that legislation to implement the treaty would not progress during the current parliamentary session, which ends on May 13. While five other bills have been approved for carryover to the next session, the Chagos Islands bill is not among them.
Trump had previously expressed support for the agreement before reversing his position in January, labeling it an "act of total weakness" and urging the UK prime minister to abandon the deal.
Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel pressed Doughty to rule out introducing new legislation in the next parliamentary session without Trump's support, asking whether the government would ensure "the surrender treaty cannot become operable."
Doughty responded by noting that the Conservatives had initiated the process but did not directly address whether a fresh bill would be proposed. A spokesperson for the prime minister declined to speculate on whether the legislation would be included in the upcoming King's Speech, stating only that UK officials would "now discuss next steps with the US and the Mauritians."
No payments associated with the treaty will be made during the delay period, as the minister confirmed that costs "cannot be paid without the treaty being passed, without the relevant legislation being passed."
Opponents of the agreement have argued that the actual cost could reach approximately £35 billion when adjusted for inflation and have raised concerns about potential Chinese influence in the region if sovereignty were transferred.