Statement by Andrew Rosindell M.P.:
The Government’s decision to schedule the Third Reading of the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill for 7 January, just two days after the Report Stage, is nothing short of an outrage. This is being rushed through deliberately, while Parliament is barely back from recess, to avoid proper scrutiny and silence opposition.
The British people were never asked, never consulted, and never gave a mandate to surrender such strategic British territory. More importantly, the Chagossian people, whose islands they really belong to, have been ignored from start to finish - continuing an injustice that spans sixty years. The Chagos Islands are a vital part of the UK’s national security and our global presence. Handing them over under pressure from foreign elites and international lawyers is a catastrophic mistake that will do nothing but weaken Britain and the West.
Not to mention to colossal cost of this, running into tens of billions of pounds of taxpayer’s money being handed over to Mauritius!
The United Nations may call for a halt, senior military figures may warn against it, and the Chagossian people themselves oppose it, yet this Government ploughs ahead in secret. Why? Who benefits? Certainly not Britain. Not our allies. Only those who seek to undermine our strength and profit from our surrender.
The Government must immediately holt the process and not betray our sovereignty, our security, and our obligations to the British Chagossian people who must be allowed to decide their own destiny.
