Legislation on Chagos deal paused for discussions with U.S., says U.K. Minister

A bill operationalising a U.K.-Mauritius treaty — which recognises the sovereignty of Mauritius over the Chagos Archipelago — is currently on hold in the British Parliament while London discusses concerns with Washington. The Indian Ocean islands are home to Diego Garcia, which houses a joint U.K.-U.S. military base. The treaty, signed in May 2025, would see Mauritius getting sovereignty over the archipelago while the U.K. would be given a 99-year lease for Diego Garcia and pay Mauritius an average annual amount of GBP 101 million. “We will bring that [legislation] back to Parliament at the appropriate time. We are pausing for discussions with our American counterparts,” U.K. Foreign Office Minister Hamish Falconer said on Wednesday (February 25, 2026) afternoon. The treaty, negotiated over 11 rounds between Mauritius and the former Conservative U.K. government, has come into question after U.S. President Donald Trump, who had earlier backed the treaty, changed his position and publicly called for it to be reconsidered in recent weeks. As recently as last week, Mr. Trump said Diego Garcia should not be given away and suggested it may be needed in the event of a U.S. strike on Iran. “Nothing in the U.K.-Mauritius deal has changed since the U.S. administration approved it,” Mr. Falconer said. The British government’s objective was to ensure that the base in Diego Garcia was secure in the long-term, Mr. Falconer told the House of Commons. When the Labour government took office, it found that the U.K.’s ability to maintain control of the base was under threat and therefore it was compelled to act, as per the Minister. “Refusing to act could have exposed one of our most valuable military assets to China,” he said, adding that the government had inherited (from the Conservative Party) a situation in which the operation of the base was under “immediate jeopardy”. Mr. Falconer’s remarks came after an Urgent Question in Parliament from Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage. #### Maldives a “few days” away from claiming Chagos : Farage “There is no basis, historically, culturally, in any way, for Mauritius to have a claim on those islands, and the Maldives are upset for two reasons,” Mr. Farage said. The first reason was the decades-long stability in the region, as per Mr. Farage. “And what happens with this treaty, if it goes through, is you finish up with a turf war going on between India and China in the region, and that, indeed, has already started,” he said. Mr. Farage also claimed that the Maldives would, in a “few days”, lodge a counter-claim to sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the International Court of Justice and urged the government to pause the progress of executing the treaty. Over the weekend, Mr. Farage posted a video on social media from the Maldives, claiming he had been denied entry to the Chagos Islands by the U.K. government. A permit is required to visit the islands. Mr. Falconer reminded Mr. Farage on Wednesday that he would have been turned away had he attempted to film a video at any U.K. military base. Published - February 25, 2026 11:24 pm IST ### Related Topics USA / United Kingdom / diplomacy / international relations