Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is under pressure to call an emergency debate tomorrow on Labour’s surrender of the Chagos Islands after Nigel Farage complained that the ‘damaging capitulation’ occurred while MPs were away from Westminster.
The Reform UK leader’s comments came as Falklands war hero Simon Weston condemned Sir Keir Starmer for being ‘weak’ amid fears that other British Overseas Territories could be given away.
Diplomatic sources claim that the Prime Minister’s humiliating handover of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, a close ally of China, had been rushed through before a potential Donald Trump victory in next month’s US Presidential election.
Trump’s allies have complained that the deal represents a strategic coup for Beijing.
The handover – the plans for which were first revealed in The Mail on Sunday last year – has triggered fresh speculation about the future of the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar after the Prime Minister refused to guarantee that he would not sign them away too.
Last night, Mr Weston, the former Welsh Guardsman who suffered catastrophic burn injuries when the Sir Galahad was bombed during the 1982 Falklands War, said: ‘The handing back of the Chagos Islands is a serious misstep because it shows weakness to the rest of the world.
‘The Prime Minister needs to come out now and show strength and leadership and say that the sovereignty of the Falklands is not on the table.
‘He has been given opportunities to speak out in defence of the Falklands but has chosen not to. That shows weakness. That has given the opportunity for the Argentinians to sow discord.’
Meanwhile, Mr Farage – in a letter sent this weekend to Foreign Secretary David Lammy and copied to Sir Lindsay – has demanded a debate on the Chagos deal.
He wrote: ‘The strategic importance of the Chagos Islands to our nation and to our most important ally, America, is well known…
‘The future of the Chagos Islands was announced when the House was not sitting, meaning that members of all parties remain in the dark about so many aspects of this decision. This has led to speculation about the future of the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.
‘It is vital that the House is given an opportunity to scrutinise the origins of the Chagos Islands deal and to debate its many implications… given the seriousness of the situation, a vote must then take place.’
Mr Farage will also submit an Urgent Question on Monday concerning the protection of British sovereignty around the world.
The Mail on Sunday revealed in May last year that the White House had expressed ‘serious concerns’ about plans to surrender the Chagos, given that the islands host the highly sensitive Anglo-American military base on Diego Garcia, known as ‘the unsinkable aircraft carrier in Indian Ocean’.
The British base, which is leased to the US Navy, is home to 1,700 military personnel and includes port facilities, an airstrip, a support structure for submarine fleets, a sophisticated radar centre and US Space Operations Command.
The Pentagon says Beijing is looking for a similar military foothold in the region and is possibly eyeing Diego Garcia.
US President Joe Biden publicly welcomed the ‘historic agreement’, saying it secured the future of a key military base which ‘plays a vital role in national, regional and global security’.
But Republicans have reacted angrily, with Idaho Senator James Risch, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a Trump supporter, arguing that it ‘gives in to Chinese lawfare’.
A diplomatic source said: ‘This was all rushed through shamelessly because Lammy was worried that if Trump wins he will throw a spanner in the works. This is not good for our relations with the Republicans.’
Meanwhile, Falkland islanders told this newspaper that they are ‘upset and unsettled’ that Sir Keir has not publicly supported them amid growing tensions.
Norma Edwards said: ‘The previous Conservative governments were unequivocal in their support of the islands remaining British.
‘The news about Labour handing back the Chagos Islands is unsettling and upsetting but the Chagos Islands always belonged to Mauritius so it is a very different situation to the Falklands which have always been British.
‘Starmer needs to come out and issue a strong statement that the Falkland Islands are non-negotiable.’
Mr Weston, after a meeting with other Welsh Guards, added: ‘The people of the Falklands deserve to sleep soundly in their beds tonight, tomorrow and forever.
‘The islanders need certainty and the only way you get certainty is by strong and clear leadership and we are not seeing that.
‘The Argentines are trying all sorts of political skulduggery. The Falkland Islands are ours and always have been. That is a matter of historical fact.
‘The Falkland islanders and all our other dependent territories like Gibraltar need to know there is no wavering in our support.’
The row has also dealt a blow to the leadership ambitions of James Cleverly, who condemned the move last week as ‘weak, weak, weak’, only for it to emerge he had opened talks over the Chagos Islands soon after taking over the Foreign Office in November 2022.
Boris Johnson wrote in yesterday’s Daily Mail: ‘This is what happens when you are governed not by Blairites – as [Labour] pretended to be at the election – but by Leftie ideologues, people who secretly or openly hate such vital concepts as US hegemony, “Western values”, Nato and an independent British nuclear deterrent.’