'If we stand strong as a country we will deter the aggression we are fearful of'

Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge is fighting on multiple fronts... to get Labour's surrender of the Chagos Islands reversed, to re-arm Ukraine and Britain's Armed Forces, and to revitalise his beloved Conservative Party

- By David Williamson

HADOW Defence Secretary James Cartlidge will this week make a last-ditch plea for Labour to abandon its deal to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands and the Diego Garcia military base to Mauritius.

Legislation to rubber-stamp the deal will come before Parliament tomorrow — and the former defence minister will try to convince Labour MPs this is a disastrous move both for Britain’s security and its finances.

The UK has committed to lease back the base for £101million a year, but Mr Cartlidge claims the true cost of the 99-year deal will be more than £30billion.

There is dismay within Conservative circles that the UK is losing sovereignty of the key UK-US Indian Ocean location just when there is rising concern about China’s potential security threat to the UK.

“It is the most extraordinary deal and I think it’s terrible value for money for taxpayers and, at a time when we face the threats we do, even at this late hour, I would love to think that Labour MPs would think again,” he said.

Mr Cartlidge, 51, argues cash would be better spent “on drones for the Army, not on leasing back a base we already own freehold”.

He fears the UK will look weakened on the international stage.

“Countries give up sovereignty of their territory in two circumstances,” he said. “When they

'People take for granted the freedom we have'

have been defeated militarily or when they have been offered a vast sum of money.

“In this case, Mauritius doesn’t have a Navy — while on Chagos we have the US Navy — and at the same time they’re not offering us billions, we're going to give them billions of pounds.”

The loss of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands comes as Mr Cartlidge argues that it is vital Britain stands up to Russia from a position of strength.

He “very much” hopes the US will arm Ukraine with Tomahawk cruise missiles, which would put Moscow within striking range.