Labour’s record so far has been a lesson in weakness. Winter fuel payments were watered down, welfare reform was kicked into the long grass, and they even surrendered their Planning and Infrastructure bill when they faced even a whiff of opposition from anti-development lobbyists.
This is a government that struggles to stand by its own policies, constantly diluting and delaying. But this isn’t just about parliamentary procedure; it’s about ideology.
The government, quite frankly, wasn’t that ideologically committed to more house building or welfare reform, despite what people may say and therefore were content to roll back on these areas.
However, there has been a policy which they haven’t caved on and have defended time and time and time again despite mass opposition and calls for them to back down. Of course, I’m talking about the Chagos deal.
A new analysis from the TaxPayers’ Alliance reveals the cost of this arrangement could be £12billion higher than the government claims.
According to the Government Actuary’s Department, the bill will be £35billion over the next century. Using an accounting trick known as “discounting”, ministers claim that because we value spending in the future less than we do now, the actual value of this deal is £3.4billion.
But that £35billion will come out of taxpayers’ pockets, whatever accounting trick you use. And in reality, our research suggests the total is more likely to be £47billion.
The reason for this gap is painfully simple: the government’s own accountants used highly optimistic forecasts to make the numbers look less catastrophic.
They assumed inflation will trundle along at 2.3 per cent, but the markets expect inflation to average closer to 2.9 per cent. That 0.6 point difference may sound small, but over a century it adds up to £12billion extra from the pockets of British taxpayers.
The scales will fall from your eyes once you realise the Chagos deal is an accounting trick - William Yarwood
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This is not a rounding error. It is a monumental miscalculation, one that will leave the public footing the bill long after the current crop of politicians has long gone.
And what exactly are we paying for? We are not just handing over money. We are paying to surrender a piece of sovereign British territory and, consequently, funding our own humiliation.
Worse still, we know precisely what the Mauritian government intends to do with the windfall. Far from being invested in global security or development, the billions funnelled to Mauritius will be used to bankroll their domestic political promises. The government in Port Louis has pledged to take 80 per cent of its workforce out of income tax altogether.
They have even committed to wiping out their national debt in full with the British taxpayers’ money. Imagine that: Mauritians will soon enjoy no income tax and a debt-free state, courtesy of the British people.
Contrast that with the grim reality here at home. Our national debt has ballooned to an eye-watering £2.7trillion, with the interest payments on it costing more than £100billion a year – more than we spend on defence.
In addition, Britain’s tax burden is set to reach a record high not seen since the end of the Second World War, with middle-income families bearing the brunt, who will see their proportion of total income tax receipts increase from 15.1 per cent to 17 per cent, all the while the wealthy flee.
This is what makes the Chagos deal so insulting. At a time when families here are struggling, ministers have signed off on a package that will allow Mauritians to live tax-free, debt-free lives paid for by us.
Britain is being asked to endure endless tax rises while we bankroll a foreign government’s economic paradise. It’s absurd, unfair, and completely indefensible.
Some will dress this up as realpolitik, a gesture of reconciliation or diplomacy. But let us not kid ourselves. The deal is a surrender dressed in moral clothing.
The British people are being forced to watch their sovereign territory handed away and their money dispatched overseas, not for any strategic advantage but for the fleeting applause of the international stage.
Meanwhile, the very politicians who signed off on this betrayal will be long gone, enjoying comfortable retirements, while taxpayers are left counting the cost.
Great Britain cannot afford this, and more importantly, we do not deserve it. We should not be forced to pay through the nose while being humiliated on the world stage.
The Chagos surrender is an act of weakness, a dereliction of duty, and a disgrace. It is a betrayal of taxpayers, of sovereignty, and of common sense.
Shame on every minister, adviser, and official who allowed it to happen. History will not be kind to them – nor should it be.