In a significant reversal, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government has pulled the controversial Chagos Islands sovereignty bill from the House of Lords agenda, succumbing to mounting pressure from Conservative opposition and sharp criticism from US President Donald Trump.
The move halts, at least temporarily, the planned transfer of the strategically vital Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius. However, the UK had secured a 99-year lease for £101 million a year for the Diego Garcia military base run by the USA. The bill, which was scheduled for debate and votes in the House of Lords on Monday, January 26, was withdrawn on Friday following a Tory motion urging postponement of the discussion and voting on the bill “in light of the changing geopolitical circumstances”.
The Tories also claim that the bill transferring the archipelago will violate a 1966 Treaty agreed with the US, and will also violate international law.
Conservative leaders hailed the decision as a “major victory” against what they termed Starmer’s “disgraceful Chagos surrender,” arguing that the deal would hand over British sovereign territory and up to £35 billion in taxpayer funds to Mauritius, a nation they describe as an ally of China.
Priti Patel, Conservative Party Shadow Foreign Secretary and Member of Parliament for Witham, called it a major victory for “everyone standing against Keir Starmer’s disgraceful Chagos Surrender.” She also called for the cancellation of the transfer deal already signed with Mauritius.
Breaking news on CHAGOS.
In the face of relentless Conservative pressure, Labour have pulled their shameful Chagos Surrender Bill from Monday’s House of Lords order paper.
This is a major victory for everyone standing against Keir Starmer’s disgraceful Chagos Surrender.
The…
— Priti Patel MP (@pritipatel) January 23, 2026
She said, “The deal, which hands British sovereign territory and £35 billion to an ally of China, should be dropped altogether. The Conservatives will continue to fight the surrender every step of the way.” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch echoed these sentiments, calling the deal an “illegal” surrender under the 1966 UK-US treaty.
However, the bill has not been abandoned altogether, and the govt said that it will return at a future date. A spokesperson said, “The government remains fully committed to the deal to secure the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia, which is vital for our national security.”
The government also accused the conservatives of interfering with Britain’s national security, with the spokesperson saying, “This is irresponsible and reckless behaviour by peers, whose roles is to check legislation, not interfere with our national security priorities.”
The conservatives were against the transfer since the beginning, but they were emboldened by Donald Trump’s recent criticism of the deal.
President Trump had initially endorsed the agreement in 2025 after it was signed, but dramatically reversed course this week in a post on Truth Social, labelling the proposed handover “an act of great stupidity.” This came amid his accelerated push to annex Greenland.
He highlighted concerns over national security, particularly the risk of increased Chinese influence in the region through Mauritius. Trump had claimed that UK was planning to give away the Diego Garcia island, where the US military base is located, to Mauritius ‘for no reason whatsoever’, adding that “China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness.”
Trump had said, “The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”
Trump’s remarks have fuelled tensions in UK-US relations, with Starmer accusing the president of using the Chagos issue as leverage in broader negotiations, including threats over Greenland and tariffs.
The Chagos Archipelago, located in the Indian Ocean, has been a point of international dispute since the 1960s when the UK detached it from Mauritius to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. The Archipelago includes the Diego Garcia island, where a critical joint UK-US military base was established in the 1970s for operations across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
Mauritius claims sovereignty over the islands and has moved international courts and tribunals to get them back. In 2019, the International Court of Justice, in a non-binding judgment, urged Britain to return sovereignty of Chagos to Mauritius, saying that the process of decolonisation of Mauritius is not complete if the UK retains the islands. As a result, Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government started negotiations to transfer the islands, and the final agreement was sealed by the Labour government in 2024.
The deal included a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia to continue running the military base, which is backed by US security agencies and Five Eyes partners. However, some say it violates the unamended 1966 treaty.
The treaty was formally approved and signed by UK PM Keir Starmer and Mauritius PM Navin Ramgoolam in May 2025. It was to be ratified by the British Parliament. But now the bill has deferred in light of changed global scenario.
