Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 6 July 2012 to Question 25763 on the British Indian Ocean Territory, what the reason and justification is for his policy of ceding the British Indian Ocean Territory to a country (a) without a historic governance relationship and (b) that is not the closest geographical option for governance; and what recent assessment he has made of the options for ceding the British Indian Ocean Territory including (a) not ceding, (b) ceding to Mauritius and (c) ceding to the Maldives.

The United Kingdom has no doubt about its sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814. Mauritius has never held sovereignty over the territory and we do not recognise its claim. However, the United Kingdom has a long-standing commitment, first made in 1965, to cede sovereignty of BIOT to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes. We stand by that commitment, which has been found to be legally binding. Thus no recent assessment has been made of other options for ceding the territory.