Red Wall voters would prefer to spend the £101million coughed up every year as part of Sir Keir Starmer's Chagos handover deal on the NHS instead, a new poll exclusively conducted for GB News has revealed.
Merlin Strategy found that 36 per cent would choose to spend the cash on tackling the crisis in the NHS, including 39 per cent of Labour voters and 35 per cent of Reform supporters.
All voting groups opted for giving the NHS yet another cash injection, but 2024 Tories were the least likely to support the investment at just 28 per cent.
Securing Britain's borders was the second port of call for Red Wall voters, with the figure admittedly higher among Reform supporters at 34 per cent.
Sir Keir Starmer
PAHowever, Merlin Strategy also found that Red Wall voters were almost evenly split on the Chagos deal.
The agreement, dubbed an "abject surrender" by Starmer's Tory and Reform rivals, will see the UK hand over the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius at the cost of £101million annually.
However, the total cost could exceed £30billion in cash terms due to rising inflation and additional schemes to fund development projects in Mauritius.
The UK will also be obliged to give notice if it plans to launch an attack from the Diego Garcia military base under the deal, prompting serious security concerns due to Mauritius's close ties with both Beijing and Moscow.
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Protesters gather to voice opposition to the Chagos deal
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Defending the deal, the Prime Minister said: "If we did not agree this deal, the legal situation would mean that we would not be able to prevent China or any other nation setting up their own bases on the outer islands, or carrying out joint exercises near our base.
"We would have to explain to you, the British people and to our allies, that we'd lost control of this vital asset.
"No responsible Government could let that happen, so there's no alternative but to act in Britain's national interest by agreeing to this deal. We will never gamble with national security."
However, Peter Lamb, the Labour MP for Crawley, where many Chagossians live, fumed: "Can I ask what I should tell my Chagossian constituents when they ask the moral basis upon which the UK is once again ignoring their right to self-determination while we fight for it in Ukraine for the Ukrainians?"
The treaty says the UK will have to inform Mauritius of planned military attacks from the Chagos IslandsGETTYMerlin Strategy also highlighted public concerns about the money spent on the Chagos deal being carved out of the defence budget.
Defending the decision to take the cash from the defence budget, Defence Secretary John Healey claimed it represented just 0.2 per cent of the current stash.
However, 51 per cent of Red Wall voters - including 56 per cent of Reform voters and 53 per cent of Tory supporters - do not think the money should count towards defence spending.
The remaining 49 per cent did support the move, with a majority of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters backing the decision.
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