Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, for what reason his Department resumed negotiations with Mauritius on the future sovereignty of the Chagos Islands.

Negotiations were started by the previous Conservative Government. This Government inherited a situation where the effective operation of the military base remained under threat and that is why negotiations resumed. The deal is rooted in a rational and hard-headed determination to protect UK national security. This deal will protect the base on Diego Garcia and cement UK and US presence in the Indo Pacific for generations to come.