PM accused of 'covering up' funding for the Chagos deal

Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of a cover-up” over his increase in defence spending after he refused to say whether it includes funding the cost of handing over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

- ARCHIE MITCHELL

The prime minister told MPs yesterday that the uplift is aimed at boosting “our capability on defence and security in Europe”, but stopped short of ruling out using the cash to lease back the joint UK-US Diego Garcia airbase located on Chagos.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir’s failure to disclose where the money for Chagos was coming from meant he had “all but confessed” it would come from the defence budget. And her spokesperson said the Tory leader hoped US president Donald Trump would block the deal.

“Labour must not give a penny of defence cash to fund this shady deal. National interest first. No ifs or buts,” Ms Badenoch wrote on X (Twitter).

The UK is in talks to hand control of the archipelago back to Mauritius as part of a deal rumoured to be worth £9bn. The government has refused to set out how much a 99-year agreement to rent back the base will cost, promising to set out the costs before parliament when the deal is signed.

But Sir Keir faced intense pressure at PMQs to say whether any of the additional £6bn in annual defence spending announced on Tuesday will be used to fund the Chagos deal. Defence secretary John Healey also refused to say whether payments to Mauritius would be included in the increased defence budget.