Keir Starmer is clear Greenland's sovereignty is theirs to decide. Why is Chagos any different? Analysis by Katherine Forster

At a protest today in Parliament Square, Chagossian Vanessa Mandarin told GB News: “We want to remain British!”

Her father was one of around 2,000 people booted out of their own homeland in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The expulsions began under the Labour Government of Harold Wilson.

Many settled in and around Crawley in South London.

Now she slams the actions of another Labour Prime Minister sixty years later: “The Government is wrong, giving away our homeland to Mauritius without consulting the Chagossians…The Chagos Islands belong to Britain and we want to remain British.”

And she is scathing about Mauritius.

“We don't trust Mauritius. Mauritius is a corrupt country….All those Chagossians here today. They fled Mauritius because they've been persecuted. They were harassing them in Mauritius. That's why they fled Mauritius to seek protection in the UK. And then we have a Government who don't protect their own citizens.”

Last May, the Prime Minister signed the deal to give sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, and lease back the island of Diego Garcia, where the US and UK share a strategically important military base.

The cost is around £100million a year, totally up to £30billion over the next century, depending on how the costs are calculated.

A legal challenge by two Chagossian women held up the signing for several hours.

They argued the Government was breaching their human rights in not consulting them over the future of the island.

Quite the irony for a Government led by a Prime Minister who is a former human rights lawyer.

And now there’s a battle over the legislation in the House of Lords. Baroness Foster, former First Minister of Northern Ireland, told GB News: “The House of Lords voted for four out of the five amendments.

“So that will now go back to the House of Commons. Originally, the third reading of the bill was to be today, but it's not now taking place until next Monday, January 12.

“And I'm hoping that the Government are listening to the voices, not just in the House of Lords, but the Chagossians here today.”

Despite these defeats in the Lords, in the Commons Labour has a massive majority, which suggests the bill is likely to ultimately become law.

Baroness Foster is also struck by the approach to Greenland in contrast to ignoring the Chagossians: “Why are we not allowing these people to have their rights of self-determination?”

And she points out that the United Nations is also against the deal as it stands.

“The United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination have also expressed grave concerns as late as December 8 that these people have not been given their rights.”

Indeed, the UN says the deal “will perpetuate longstanding violations of the Chagossian people’s rights.”

The Government says it has no choice but to hand the islands to Mauritius, following a ruling in 2019 from the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Though that was advisory, Labour claims being in breach of international law would have risked the base on Diego Garcia becoming inoperable.

The Attorney General Richard Hermer advised the Government to give the islands to Mauritius.

Phillipe Sands KC, a close friend of the Prime Minister’s, worked for Mauritius in their long-running battle against Britain, and has Mauritian citizenship.

Baroness Foster goes on: “These are human rights. There's many reasons to be against this treaty…. But the biggest reason of all is that the people who are directly affected have not been asked what they believe.

“And I think that that is totally wrong.”

She urges the Government to pause, adding: “They need to say, are we doing the right thing? But more than that, are we doing the right thing by our own citizens.. and we're not. And that has to be a scandal. And I hope people realise that, that this is a scandal that is happening here today.”

Some hope that the American President Donald Trump may yet decide that the deal is a risk on national security grounds.

Baroness Foster agrees: “The world is in a very dangerous place at this moment in time. Geopolitics are all around us.

“So not just America, but our own government needs to take stock on that, and they need to pause.”

Whether Donald Trump will ride to the rescue of the Chagossians remains to be seen. He’s rather busy at the moment.

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