Nigel Farage has predicted a new twist in the Chagos Islands saga as Sir Keir Starmer’s deal to hand sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius comes under attack. President Trump has urged the UK Government not to give away sovereignty of the Diego Garcia UK-US base, which has a long enough runway for heavy bombers but is beyond the reach of Iranian missiles. Britain plans to lease back the base for 99 years, but the proposals have come under cross-party fire, and there is opposition among native Chagossians. Mr Farage predicted that a new wave of opposition to the plan is about to open up. The Reform UK leader, who has just returned from the Maldives, told Parliament that he expects this state to lay claim to the Chagos Islands. He claimed Maldivians fear the consequences of a “turf war” between India and China.

He told MPs: “It is the Maldives that has the historical links with the Chagos Islands, both in terms of trade, in terms of archaeology. In fact, all the French did was rename the islands from the Maldivian language. There is no basis—historically, culturally, in any way—for Mauritius to have a claim on the islands. The Maldives are upset for two reasons. One, there has been great stability in this region for decades, 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.” Mr Farage added: “I wish to inform the Government that we are just a few days away, in my opinion, from the Maldives issuing a counterclaim to the International Court of Justice to say if anybody has the right to the sovereignty of those islands, it is the Maldives and not Mauritius. And I would urge you to pause all of this.”

Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel fired a shot at both Labour and Reform, saying: “Labour wants to surrender to Mauritius, and Reform wants to surrender to the Maldives. Only the Conservatives will keep Chagos British.”

In a speech to the Hudson Institute in Washington DC, Dame Priti applauded the US for stopping the deal from becoming reality.

She said: “We have seen international committees and bodies that few have heard, but we all pay for, challenge and question our sovereignty over the British Indian Overseas Territory, the Chagos Islands, which is home to the strategically important US military base on Diego Garcia. China, Russia and Iran all celebrated and worked to achieve this damming outcome.

“But rather than stand up for our interests and freedoms, the Labour Government has backed down to surrender a British sovereign territory to a foreign government.”

She added: “Now if it were not for the intervention of the President of the United States and the forensic deconstruction of this terrible Labour policy by my party in Parliament, this sovereign territory would be in the hands of the government of Mauritius.

“Together, the UK and America, that’s my party and the American administration have worked to delay the ratification of this terrible legislation, and I want to thank white house team for listening to the calls of their British Conservative allies to stop this appalling surrendered.”

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