Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
A bill operationalising a U.K.-Mauritius treaty in U.K. law, recognising the sovereignty of Mauritius over the Chagos Archipelago, is on pause in the British parliament while the U.K. government discusses concerns with the U.S. government. The Indian Ocean islands, are home to Deigo Garica, which houses a 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, which was discussed over 11 rounds of negotiations between Mauritius and the former Conservative U.K. government, has been called into question after U.S. President Donald Trump, who gave his backing to the treaty, changed his mind and publicly called for it to be reconsidered in more 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 had changed, Mr. Falconer, since the U.S. administration had approved it.
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 when it had took office found that the ability of the U.K. 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) where 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
