Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill

Debate between Priti Patel and Simon Hoare

Consideration of Lords amendments
Tuesday 20th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Priti Patel]

Let me remind my right hon. Friend exactly what the President of the United States said. He has said that this is being done “for no reason whatsoever”, and that

“There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”

The previous Foreign Secretary, now the Deputy Prime Minister, is on the record as saying:

“If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward… they’ve got to be happy with the deal or there is no deal”,

so why has Labour continued to press this Bill?

In the light of the President’s comments, can the Minister tell us what will happen to the status of the 1966 exchange of notes between the UK and the United States, which states clearly that the British Indian Ocean Territory

“shall remain under United Kingdom sovereignty”?

What is the impact on that agreement? Is it being changed?

[Simon Hoare]

When I and other colleagues intervened on the Minister, we seemed to get a rather la-la land answer about the Government’s response to what the President of the United States has said. In terms, the Minister said, “I’ll go and have a word with him and put him straight.” Well, good luck with that! The Government, having prayed in aid for so long the unalloyed support of the United States, have now lost it. Is my right hon. Friend as confused as I am to see that they are pretending that the incident never happened? It is like the “Bobby in the shower” moment in “Dallas”.

[Priti Patel]

I thank my hon. Friend for his comments. The Opposition are completely against this deal, and the President of the United States has said that it is going ahead “for no reason whatsoever”. It seems to me that the Government are still on hold to the President of the United States.