Trump team hostile to Chagos deal, claims Nigel Farage

The UK’s deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will likely be met with “outright hostility” by the Trump administration, Nigel Farage has predicted.

The Reform UK leader, a supporter and friend of the incoming US president, told MPs the agreement would put the UK at odds with an important ally.

He added that Donald Trump’s advisers had security concerns, amid claims the deal could boost China’s influence in the region.

But Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty said he was confident the “full element” of the arrangement would allay concerns.

It had won backing “throughout the nationwide safety equipment within the United States”, he added.

Under the deal, the UK will hand over sovereignty of the islands whereas retaining management over a joint UK-US army base on the island of Diego Garcia, for an “initial period” of 99 years.

The UK authorities says the accord, which it hopes to ratify subsequent yr, will finish authorized uncertainty over the islands following worldwide rulings backing Mauritian claims to sovereignty.

But the strategic significance of the archipelago, recognized formally because the British Indian Ocean Territory, has prompted criticism that the settlement will ship a safety enhance to China.

Numerous US Republicans have attacked the deal, which has been backed by the outgoing Biden authorities, though Trump himself has not commented publicly on it.

Speaking within the Commons, Farage mentioned the UK would discover “outright hostility” to the deal among the many subsequent US administration, including it had been an “enormous mistake” to enroll to it earlier than final week’s presidential election.

He mentioned he knew this due to time he had spent in America within the aftermath of the election, and since he knew the incoming defence secretary, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, “very well”.

He added that Michael Waltz, anticipated to change into Trump’s nationwide safety adviser, “has form” on the subject, having written a letter to Biden’s secretary of state Antony Blinken in 2022 throughout talks below the earlier Tory authorities.

In the letter, published on his website at the time, the Republican congressman warned that China would “take advantage of the resulting vacuum” if the UK handed over sovereignty of the islands.

“Diego Garcia was described to me by a senior Trump adviser as the most important island on the planet, as far as America was concerned,” Farage told MPs.

He said continuing with the deal would put the UK “at conflict with a country without which we would be defenceless”.

Doughty dismissed Farage’s criticism, arguing authorized uncertainty over the Chagos Islands threatened the “secure and effective operation” of the base on Diego Garcia.

He added that given previous findings against the UK, a legally binding ruling siding with Mauritian sovereignty claims “seemed inevitable” sooner or later, creating authorized uncertainty over the bottom that was “not sustainable”.

He mentioned the deal contained measures to stop international presence within the “outer islands”, and had additionally been welcomed by all components of “the US system”.

He added the UK was wanting ahead to working with the Trump administration, saying: “I’m sure that they will being briefed on the full detail of this deal.

“I am confident that the details of this arrangement will allay any concerns.”

Negotiations on a deal started below the earlier Conservative authorities in 2022, however a number of senior Tories have additionally spoken out in opposition to the deal.

Shadow international secretary Dame Priti Patel, who left authorities two months earlier than negotiations started below Rishi Sunak, mentioned the accord would “give away a key strategic asset” within the Indian Ocean.

Other Tories to have criticised the deal embrace James Cleverly, who took half in negotiations himself as international secretary however has since described Labour’s proposed settlement as “weak”.