Chagos deal paused over Trump opposition, minister confirms

Chagos deal paused due to Trump opposition, minister confirms45 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleJennifer McKiernanPolitical reporterBBCForeign Minister Stephen Doughty speaking in the CommonsThe Chagos Islands deal has been paused indefinitely due to US President Donald Trump pulling his support, foreign minister Stephen Doughty has confirmed.The agreement would see the UK cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius and pay an average of £101m ($136m) per year to lease back a joint UK-US military base on the archipelago's largest island Diego Garcia.Trump had expressed support for the treaty before urging the prime minister to scrap it, labelling it an "act of total weakness" in January.Doughty's announcement, made in response to an Urgent Question from the Conservatives, follows the BBC's report on Saturday that Sir Keir Starmer had shelved the deal.Speaking in the House of Commons, Doughty repeatedly pointed the finger of blame at Trump, at times sounding frustrated, as he confirmed legislation will not progress during this parliamentary session.Earlier on Monday, the prime minister's official spokesman would not commit to bringing back legislation to complete the process in the next session, due to begin on 13 May.Doughty told MPs an update to the agreement allowing joint UK-US operation of the Diego Garcia military base has become "impossible to agree at political level" between the two countries.That is despite the treaty with Mauritius having been "negotiated in close co-ordination with the United States under both this and the previous United States administrations", and one Trump had previously described as "very strong and powerful".Doughty said: "In recent weeks, the position of the United States president appears to have changed."And this means that, in practical terms, it has become impossible to agree at political level an update to the 1966 UK-US agreement concerning...