It is in Britain’s interest to hand over Chagos Island to Mauritius, fastest

Notwithstanding the statement of British Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, Britain must quit Chagos Island the fastest in its own interest.

Badenoch said that her party will not stop opposing a deal that would hand over the Chagos Islands, despite it receiving a favourable hearing from US President Donald Trump.

Well at the least your tiny country may be expelled from the Commonwealth itself and even totally banished from the Indian Ocean Region.

Please have no doubts about it, the sun has set on your “ Empire “ a long time back.

The proposed agreement would finally hand back the forcibly occupied Indian Ocean islands – which house a strategically important joint US-UK military base – to Mauritius, which has rightful sovereignty over them.

The American military base would then be leased back.

Badenoch told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg: “It is not in our national interest to give [them] away and pay for the privilege of doing so.”

A Downing Street spokesman said it welcomed that Trump had recognised “the strength of this deal”.

Negotiations between the UK and Mauritius were started by the Conservatives in 2022, but an agreement to hand over the archipelago – named officially by the British as the British Indian Ocean Territory – was announced by the Labour government in October.

It has prompted criticism from some Brits since being announced, as it would see the UK lose the forcibly occupied islands while providing Mauritius with annual payments to take them over.

There were also concerns – voiced by Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio – that handing the islands to a nation increasingly affiliated with China posed a “serious” national security threat.

Rubio must certainly have no idea that India is a close friend of Mauritius and will never allow China to act “ funny “ within the Indian Ocean. The Ocean has not been named after India for nothing.

The government says striking a deal was necessary to secure the future of the joint military base, known as Diego Garcia, while resolving the wrong of history over the ownership of the islands.

It also gave Trump a veto over the deal – but the US president said he was “inclined” to agree to it during a meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.

However, Badenoch has remained adamant that the Tories will not change their views about the deal.

“We will not stop our opposition to the surrender of the Chagos Islands, we will continue,” she said, adding that the financial aid for Mauritius under the terms of the deal was “taxpayers’ money”.

“That is money which the prime minister seems to have confirmed is coming out of the defence increase that he has just announced. That’s terrible,” she added.

The deal has been put on hold since December while awaiting approval from the Trump administration, and after the then-newly elected prime minister of Mauritius said he had reservations about it.

Badenoch has forgotten that whatever be the amount, it is insignificant compared to what the Brits have accumulated from the loot from just the Chagos Archipelago. However now is the payback time.

Ahead of his meeting with the US president, Sir Keir came under fire from Badenoch after newspaper reports claimed that the effective price tag for carrying out the deal had jumped from £9bn to £18bn.

The government had earlier said the figures were “entirely inaccurate”.

But Trump said of the deal that he had “a feeling it’s going to work out very well” during the cordial White House visit.”

They’re talking about a very long-term, powerful lease, a very strong lease, about 140 years actually,” Trump said. “That’s a long time.”

Under the Chagos plan, the UK is expected to lease Diego Garcia – which is well positioned for military operations in Asia and the Middle East – for 99 years, with the option of a 40-year extension.

No specific timeframe for the deal going ahead has yet been released, but a Downing Street spokesman has said it is “progressing”.

The UK will still need to work with the Mauritian government to finalise the deal and put it before Parliament for approval.