Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has admitted that the Chagos Islands deal cannot go ahead without US backing, after Donald Trump attacked its terms.
During his first face-to-face meeting with Andy Burnham last night, the US President described the proposed handover of the territory to Mauritius as “terrible and ridiculous”.
The Prime Minister sat stony-faced as Mr Trump warned that nothing must jeopardise the future of the strategically vital Diego Garcia military base.
Asked about the President’s remarks later, Mr Burnham said he had “inherited the situation and we need a resolution”. He added: “It’s critical to safeguard the future of the base, and that matters to us for security reasons, but also clearly to the United States as well.”
Speaking to broadcasters during a studio tour this morning, Mr Streeting acknowledged that any agreement “needs to have the support of the Americans”.
“So objectively, in the absence of support from the Americans, is this deal good enough? No,” he told Sky News.
The minister also said Mauritius would receive no payments until the dispute had been settled.
Andy Burnham speaks at the 81st United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York City
Donald Trump renewed his criticism of Labour’s “terrible deal” to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius during his first meeting with Mr Burnham
Kemi Badenoch mocked Mr Burnham, claiming he had adopted three different positions on Chagos within 24 hours
Government sources expressed relief that Mr Burnham’s first meeting with his volatile counterpart at the UN General Assembly in New York avoided the angry exchanges seen between Mr Trump and other world leaders.
However, the Prime Minister was left watching as Mr Trump condemned the plan to transfer the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, an ally of China, at a reported cost of £35billion.
While travelling to New York, Mr Burnham said he was “determined” to complete the agreement, arguing that it was essential to the long-term operation of the UK-US base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
He said he would “work towards a resolution” with the President, whose approval is required.
But Mr Trump said the Prime Minister had failed to alter his position. “I don’t support it. I think it’s terrible. It was a terrible deal,” he said.
“They [Mauritius] all of a sudden say they have ownership. Somebody has ownership that never showed up before after decades and centuries. I think it’s ridiculous.”
“No, we were talking about that, and [the islands are] strategically very important. Very important. You know, we had to send our B2 bombers… back home to Missouri [after a bombing raid on Iran], as opposed to flying for a short period of time.”
“It’s amazing how strategic it is, and I think the Prime Minister is going to be looking at it.”
Mr Burnham nodded in agreement and replied: “Yeah.”
Senior Conservative MP Alex Burghart told the Daily Mail: “Keir Starmer did huge damage to Britain and Andy Burnham is picking up where he left off.”
‘In the space of 24 hours, he has backed giving away the Chagos Islands and opened the door to rejoining the EU. Apparently, he can find money for Mauritius and Brussels, but not for our Armed Forces.
‘This is a double surrender by Continuity Keir. He just wants to keep fighting old battles.’
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage said: ‘Burnham has no fresh ideas in his head, it is a continuation of the Starmer double surrender.
‘If Burnham won’t start putting British interests first, a Reform government will.’
Mr Burnham tried to frame the meeting as a positive one, insisting of Mr Trump: ‘I can certainly work with him. It was a very encouraging meeting.
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‘We’ve established a good connection in the discussions we’ve had, and that very much came through today: a lot of common ground on the cost of living, we agreed around the conflict in the Middle East and the importance of bringing an end to it, getting the Strait [of Hormuz] open, and obviously making sure that Iran doesn’t end up a nuclear power. So lots of agreement there.’
Mr Streeting said this morning: ‘We will work together to get to a point where the both the governments of Mauritius and the UK, but also the Americans can sign up to this because this Diego Garcia is extremely important to the Americans as well as to us and our collective security. So the objective here is to safeguard that base and its capability, not just now, but for the long term, because it’s that important to us.’
As well as establishing a £40million fund for Chagossians expelled from the islands, the UK had agreed to pay Mauritius at least £120million annually during the 99-year agreement.
The total cost in nominal terms would reach around £35billion.
Asked whether the yearly payment would go ahead, the Defence Secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Not at this stage.
‘We’ve got to get to a point where we can agree a deal.’
Mr Streeting added that it would be ‘a price worth paying’ if it secured the UK’s long-term ability to use Diego Garcia.
Mr Burnham also sparked fears that he may fight the next election on a pledge to rejoin the EU – abandoning the ‘red lines’ set out in Sir Keir’s 2024 manifesto.
Asked by reporters if he was considering the prospect, he replied: ‘Our focus at the moment is on a UK-EU summit which we hope will take place later this year.
‘And as I said, my immediate priority is to build on the good work that Keir did in rebuilding bridges. Because those bridges were broken in the early part of this decade. And Keir did a good job in re-establishing that relationship.’
Ahead of talks last night with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, Mr Burnham said a new deal with Brussels would ‘further boost the British economy’.
He also suggested voters had been misled into voting Leave in 2016, saying: ‘I’m reflecting on that last decade.
‘What we’ve experienced is that turbulence comes when outside actors seek to manipulate, to distort facts, influence the British democratic process.’
Mr Burnham’s first foray onto the international stage seemed fraught with danger, with Britain at odds with the US on issues ranging from Palestine to AI.
But Mr Trump said the so-called Special Relationship was ‘more up’ following the departure of Sir Keir, with whom he fell out spectacularly over the Iran war.
The President said: ‘I think you’re up. Well, they’re more now than they were with your last Prime Minister, let me put it that way. I think right now, based on my relationship with your Prime Minister, Andy, I think we’re doing very well.’
He also seemed to feign ignorance about Labour’s sanctions on illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, rather than putting Mr Burnham in a tight spot. The PM, who once described Mr Trump as ‘poisonous’, told him it had been ‘great to be with you’.
Earlier this week, Mr Burnham told his counterpart from Mauritius, Navin Ramgoolam, that he would do ‘everything possible’ to make the Chagos handover happen.
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Downing Street said: ‘The Prime Minister underlined his commitment to working with Mauritius and the United States on a way forward that secures the operation of the base and protects UK national security.’
But the Mauritian government went far further, saying: ‘The British PM reiterated his commitment to continue doing everything possible, together with the US, to achieve ratification of the treaty.’
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked: ‘Why can’t Andy Burnham do ‘everything possible’ to bring down the cost of welfare, or do ‘everything possible’ to fund defence properly?
‘Why is giving away this territory such a priority for Labour that they are willing to give away billions when there’s little money for anything else?’
On the Falkland Islands, Mr Burnham said the UK ‘will stand firm in the face of any threats’ to their sovereignty after Argentina’s president Javier Milei escalated tensions over the archipelago.