Chagos Islanders report Keir Starmer to International Criminal Court for 'crimes against humanity'

The agreement saw Sir Keir Starmer hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while keeping the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia on a 99-year lease.

Ministers argued at the time that the deal needed to be done because Britain would have faced legal challenges “within weeks” which could have jeopardised the operation of the Indian Ocean base.

Sir Keir faced criticism over the deal including from Reform's Nigel Farage and Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who described it as "wasteful and dangerous", as well as from some Chagos Islanders.

Mauritius became independent from Britain in 1968 and there has since been dispute between the two countries over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia.

When the military base on Diego Garcia was built, some displaced Chagos Islanders were settled in the UK.

Now, a group of campaigners have made a report to the ICC calling the displacement of islanders “one of the longest-standing and most egregious cases of displacement in modern history”, reports The Telegraph.

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They claim Sir Keir, former foreign secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey “knowingly perpetuated crimes against humanity” by not allowing displaced residents to return to the Chagos Islands.

The court referral is reportedly led by Bertrice Pompe, a British woman who was born on the Chagos Islands.

She previously brought a legal challenge the Chagos Islands deal, which led to an interim injunction stopping the agreement from being signed.

However, a High Court judge lifted the injunction shortly after.

Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice in May, Ms Pompe said: “They are not treating us, that we are human beings. We have rights. We are British citizens, yet our right doesn’t count?

“We don’t want to give our rights, hand over our rights to Mauritius.

"We’re not Mauritians, and I don’t think we will get any… the rights we’re asking for now we’ve been fighting for for 60 years.

“So we need to keep fighting with the British Government to listen to us.”

Upon announcing the deal earlier this year, Sir Keir claimed it would cost £3.4 billion.

But, the Government has been accused of not exposing the true cost of the agreement after figures from the Government Actuary's Department revealed last month initially calculated the agreement's cost at £34.7billion, in nominal terms.

Analysis by Taxpayers' Alliance published yesterday suggested the cost could be even higher, at £47billion.

The pressure group claims the Government estimated the value of future payments using inflation assumptions that "do not reflect market values".

It has called on Sir Keir to cancel the deal and "save the country from national humiliation".

Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones insisted last month that the £3.4billion figure was the "true cost", adding that Labour "does not recognise" the projected £34.7billion sum.