Chagos deal dismantled by ex-No10 adviser amid plans for Andy Burnham to 'push ahead' with surrender: 'Insanity!'

A Friends of British Overseas Territories spokesman has dismantled the possibility of the Chagos deal going ahead under its current form, amid plans by Andy Burnham to "press ahead" with the agreement.

Speaking to GB News, Robert Midgley hit out at reports suggesting the Makerfield MP intends to press ahead with the controversial surrender of the British territory to Mauritius.

According to multiple sources, the Makerfield MP is preparing to complete the giveaway of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The controversial deal, which was shelved by the Government in April, is expected to cost taxpayers around £35billion.

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Criticising the reported move by Mr Burnham, Mr Midgley said the deal in itself is "the definition of insanity".

He told GB News: "His official spokesperson has come out this morning and said that no decision has been made yet, and to me, the deal is the definition of insanity.

"How are they going to proceed with this? How much money are they going to spend is absolutely insane."

Mr Midgley stressed that the Bill currently "cannot be brought back" in its current form.

He explained: "It's no surprise that Burnham may want to continue with this. He may want to continue with Jonathan Powell in office and even Lord Hermer - Hermer still thinks he can get this through in July.

"But it's absolutely impossible to bring back the Bill at this stage because we've got the 1966 agreement with the Americans which states the US recognises sovereignty.

"So in order to bring that bill into Parliament, they would have to change that, and Donald Trump refuses to change that right now."

Mr Midgley warned Mr Burnham: "There's no actual route to bring this bill back until Andy Burnham comes into office in September, for example. And then you've got two opposing bills also going through Parliament here and in the US in the Senate.

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"They've actually launched their own bill to oppose any sort of handover. The Senate must have a say over signing over Diego Garcia to anyone, so there's a lot going on."

The spokesman also highlighted the ongoing legislation surrounding Misley Mandarin and his community which has settled on the Chagos Islands, and how no deal can go forward until resolution is met there.

He said: "The British Indian Ocean Territory court has announced that the deal would actually cost about £50billion, and that was said in the court case only two months ago.

"And also, we have the court cases coming back next week because Misley Mandarin is still on the island, and they can't proceed with any sort of handover of territory while all of this is going on."

Mr Midgley concluded that once self-determination on the islands of Chagos, the UN "has to support" that decision once it has been made.

He said: "Misley Mandarin and the other five Chagossians are currently on the outer islands, and once you've introduced resettlement into the outer islands, it suddenly introduces self-determination, which of course, the UN has to support.

"So by resettling the Chagossians on the outer islands, it means we can protect Diego Garcia. We can protect British sovereignty in perpetuity."

A spokesman for Andy Burnham told GB News that “absolutely no decisions have been taken” about his approach to the Chagos islands.

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