Keir Starmer ‘set to blow defence billions on Chagos Islands surrender’ as Labour repeatedly fails to deny that a significant chunk of its increase in military spending will fund airbase sell-out_Nhy
Sir Keir Starmer ‘all but confessed’ that Labour’s defence cash boost would be used to fund the Chagos Islands giveaway, it was claimed yesterday.
Just a day after announcing the major increase to the military budget, the Prime Minister refused to rule out handing some of the money to Mauritius.
Yesterday he flew to Washington for crucial talks with Donald Trump. He will warn the President that Europe could descend into war if America does not provide a military ‘backstop’ for British and European troops deployed as peacekeepers in Ukraine.
He will urge Mr Trump not to abandon Ukraine and give Vladimir Putin the opportunity to attack it again.
They are also expected to discuss the Chagos deal which has already come under fire from some of Mr Trump’s Republican allies.
Labour is preparing to cede sovereignty of the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius, but lease back the US-UK military base on Diego Garcia at a reported cost of almost £9billion over the 99-year term of the agreement.
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister announced that the Government will meet its manifesto commitment to raise military spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP two years early.
Yesterday Sir Keir told MPs that the boost is for ‘our capability on defence and security in Europe’.
The Prime Minister announced that the Government will raise military spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of surrendering the Chagos Islands will come from the defence budget’
But he then described the deal being negotiated with Mauritius as ‘extremely important for our security’.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused Sir Keir of having ‘all but confessed at Prime Minister’s Questions that the cost of surrendering the Chagos Islands will come from the defence budget’.
She added: ‘Labour must not give a penny of defence cash to fund this shady deal. National interest first. No ifs or buts.’ Mrs Badenoch pressed Sir Keir over the Chagos deal during a heated clash at PMQs in the Commons.
It came after Defence Secretary John Healey failed to rule out whether any potential funding for the deal was being accounted for by the new defence budget.
Mrs Badenoch asked the PM to ‘confirm to the House that none of the defence uplift includes payments for his Chagos deal?’
But Sir Keir declined to rule it out, saying the ‘additional spend I announced [on Tuesday] is for our capability on defence and security in Europe’.
He added: ‘The Chagos deal is extremely important for our security, for US security. The US are rightly looking at it. When it’s finalised I’ll put it before the House with the costings.’
After PMQs, Mrs Badenoch’s spokesman said it was ‘incumbent on the Government as soon as possible to explain where the money is coming from’ for the Chagos deal.
Labour is preparing to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius but leaseback the US-UK military base on Diego Garcia (pictured)
He also indicated that Mr Trump should block the deal. Asked how long the President should take to consider it, the spokesman replied: ‘I haven’t seen the deal, so I don’t know how long, but I assume he has, and hopefully he will stop it.’
Last night David Lammy said the Chagos agreement will not go ahead without the backing of Mr Trump.
The Foreign Secretary said on ITV’s Peston: ‘If President Trump doesn’t like the deal, the deal will not go forward… because we have a shared military and intelligence interest with the United States.’
The Prime Minister and Tory leader also clashed over the value of the defence uplift.
She pressed the Prime Minister over his claim the extra defence spending would amount to £13.4billion, after Mr Healey suggested the real-terms increase year on year ‘would be something over £6billion’.
Sir Keir said Mrs Badenoch was ‘going through the same question over and over again’, adding: ‘If you take the financial year this year and then you take the financial year for 2027/28, the difference between the two is £13.4billion.
‘That’s the same answer. If you ask again, I’ll give the same answer again.’
The Diego Garcia military base in the Chagos Islands which is the site of a joint military facility of the United Kingdom and the United States
The Tory leader hit back: ‘Someone needs to tell the Prime Minister that being patronising is not a substitute for answering questions.’
The Institute for Fiscal Studies was among the critics of the Government’s sums, and accused ministers of playing ‘silly games with numbers’.
The PM announced on Tuesday the increase in defence spending from 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent by 2027 in response to ‘tyrant’ Vladimir Putin and amid uncertainty over US commitment to European security. He also set an ambition to hit 3 per cent in the first half of the next decade.
The increase in military cash will come at the expense of the aid budget, which will fall from 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent in 2027. Cabinet ministers reportedly warned of the risks of slashing the aid budget but Deputy PM Angela Rayner insisted they were ‘all united that the number one responsibility of any government is to keep its citizens safe’.
Mr Lammy said earlier this month that Mr Trump’s cuts to the US aid budget could be a ‘big strategic mistake’.
But yesterday he said: ‘We are a government of pragmatists, not ideologues – and we have had to balance the compassion of our internationalism with the necessity of our national security.’
