Sir Keir Starmer’s surrender of the Chagos Islands is facing a High Court legal challenge in a bid to halt it going ahead, it emerged last night.
Leading Tory peers have issued a pre-action legal letter against the Foreign Office seeking a judicial review of the controversial proposed deal.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the group includes Lord Lilley, the former Cabinet minister, Lord Kempsell, a former special adviser to Boris Johnson, and Lord Roberts of Belgravia, the historian.
They claim that the Government is acting unlawfully by proposing to give away British territory to Mauritius.
They argue that ministers do not have the prerogative power to cede British territory to a foreign power, that the cost of around £8.9billion is unlawful and that any legislation to underpin the deal is based on an ‘erroneous’ understanding of international law.
However, there is a long-standing unwritten convention that the courts do not get involved in foreign policy decisions, meaning it is unlikely the judicial review will be heard.
Some high-profile lawyers, including former attorney-general Sir Michael Ellis, have previously warned that the proposed deal is flawed and therefore could be challenged in the courts.
Under the proposed treaty, Mauritius would be handed sovereignty of the archipelago.
Leading Tory peers have issued a pre-action legal letter against the Foreign Office seeking a judicial review of the controversial proposed deal. Pictrued: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer
The archipelago, controlled by the UK for more than two centuries, is home to the joint UK-US Diego Garcia military base
High-profile lawyers have previously warned that the proposed deal is flawed and therefore could be challenged in the courts. Pictured: Sir Keir Starmer
The UK would then pay at least £9billion over 99 years to lease back the Anglo-American military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos atolls.
The Trump administration is currently reviewing the proposed deal, which has been widely criticised by MPs and Trump allies.
Before taking office, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it posed a ‘serious threat’.
The White House has now seemingly insisted on a representative joining the negotiations with Mauritius.
Ministers have been arguing that national security will be damaged if an agreement is not reached.
They insist that an advisory ruling of the International Court of Justice has thrown the legal status of the territory into doubt, opening the door for satellite communications to be compromised and neighbouring islands to be leased out to hostile powers.
Speaking to the Mail, senior defence sources previously warned that the UK’s system for co-ordinating nuclear missiles relies on connection points on the Diego Garcia base.
To function properly, these ‘nodes’ require physical protection and British control of the island’s electromagnetic spectrum.
The piece, which featured prominently in the prestigious newspaper this week, highlighted the Chagos Islands row, saying the UK was proposing to ‘sell the ground beneath the feet’ of the crucial Diego Garcia military base (pictured) to Mauritius
The Trump administration is currently reviewing the proposed deal, which has been widely criticised by MPs and Trump allies
Sir Keir Starmer during a meeting with President Xi Jinping of China, at G20 summit in on November 18, 2024
But the deal includes a clause saying other countries could also use the spectrum, from which Mauritius could profit.
According to senior sources, this could offer Beijing a gateway to jamming the top-secret Automated Digital Network System 3 (ADNS 3), which is shared by the Royal Navy and the US Navy and, crucially, is part of the ‘Nuclear Firing Chain’ (NFC).
Downing Street told reporters earlier this month that the deal would enhance UK national security, insisting that without it, Britain would lose access to the spectrum.
‘The very clear advice that we have is that the future operation of the base without a deal would be at risk,’ a spokesman said.
But Conservative former defence secretary Ben Wallace said: ‘This is a totally fabricated excuse by the Cabinet Office.
‘The islands are far more important than just this and the potential threat to our operations [from no deal] is a total fiction from the pen of the Cabinet Office comms and no doubt [human rights law firm] Leigh Day’s best mate Lord Hermer.’
In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled that Britain’s continued administration of the islands was unlawful.
Despite the UK ignoring the ruling, it was subsequently ratified by the UN General Assembly, which found the islands rightfully belonged to Mauritius.
Attorney General Lord Hermer is co-leading negotiations to hand over the strategically important islands in the Indian Ocean
Sir Ben added: ‘Many of the UN judges who made the flawed ruling come from totalitarian states including China.
‘Is the PM really going to put their opinions before that of Britain’s security? Diego Garcia is British and must remain so.’
The settlement could also mean that the Royal Navy could be prevented from entering a buffer zone which Mauritius intends to set up around the islands.
Without any protection from Western navies, sources fear that China could get close enough to the sensitive military facilities.
