Sir Keir Starmer’s surrender of the Chagos Islands is facing a High Court legal challenge in a bid to halt it going ahead, it emerged last night.
Leading Tory peers have issued a pre-action legal letter against the Foreign Office seeking a judicial review of the controversial proposed deal.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the group includes Lord Lilley, the former Cabinet minister, Lord Kempsell, a former special adviser to Boris Johnson, and Lord Roberts of Belgravia, the historian.
They claim that the Government is acting unlawfully by proposing to give away British territory to Mauritius.
They argue that ministers do not have the prerogative power to cede British territory to a foreign power, that the cost of around £8.9billion is unlawful and that any legislation to underpin the deal is based on an ‘erroneous’ understanding of international law.
However, there is a long-standing unwritten convention that the courts do not get involved in foreign policy decisions, meaning it is unlikely the judicial review will be heard.
Some high-profile lawyers, including former attorney-general Sir Michael Ellis, have previously warned that the proposed deal is flawed and therefore could be challenged in the courts.
Under the proposed treaty, Mauritius would be handed sovereignty of the archipelago.
The UK would then pay at least £9billion over 99 years to lease back the Anglo-American military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos atolls.
The Trump administration is currently reviewing the proposed deal, which has been widely criticised by MPs and Trump allies.
Before taking office, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it posed a ‘serious threat’.
The White House has now seemingly insisted on a representative joining the negotiations with Mauritius.
Ministers have been arguing that national security will be damaged if an agreement is not reached.
They insist that an advisory ruling of the International Court of Justice has thrown the legal status of the territory into doubt, opening the door for satellite communications to be compromised and neighbouring islands to be leased out to hostile powers.
Speaking to the Mail, senior defence sources previously warned that the UK’s system for co-ordinating nuclear missiles relies on connection points on the Diego Garcia base.
To function properly, these ‘nodes’ require physical protection and British control of the island’s electromagnetic spectrum.
But the deal includes a clause saying other countries could also use the spectrum, from which Mauritius could profit.
According to senior sources, this could offer Beijing a gateway to jamming the top-secret Automated Digital Network System 3 (ADNS 3), which is shared by the Royal Navy and the US Navy and, crucially, is part of the ‘Nuclear Firing Chain’ (NFC).
Downing Street told reporters that the deal would enhance UK national security, insisting that without it, Britain would lose access to the spectrum.
‘The very clear advice that we have is that the future operation of the base without a deal would be at risk,’ a spokesman said.
In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that Britain’s continued administration of the islands was unlawful.
Despite the UK ignoring the ruling, it was subsequently ratified by the UN General Assembly, which found the islands rightfully belonged to Mauritius.