UK Suspends Chagos Islands Return to Mauritius Citing Lack of Support from Donald Trump

The United Kingdom suspended its plan to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius on April 11, 2026, citing a lack of support from United States President Donald Trump. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed the decision, stating that London continued to believe the agreement was the best way to protect the long-term future of the Diego Garcia military base but had always conditioned any move forward on Washington's backing. The bill required passage through both chambers of Parliament before the end of the current session, scheduled to close in May, but the legislation was not expected to feature in the King's Speech setting the agenda for the next parliamentary term. Trump, who had initially appeared to accept the arrangement, later reversed course and publicly condemned it, calling it a "big mistake" and denouncing what he described as London's "great stupidity."

Former top diplomat says deal had no other path Simon McDonald, who served as the most senior civil servant at the Foreign Office from 2015 to 2020, said the government had "no choice" but to place the agreement in the "deep freeze." McDonald told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the UK had pursued two simultaneous objectives — compliance with international law and reinforcement of its relationship with the United States — and that an openly hostile American president made both impossible to achieve simultaneously. He noted that the International Court of Justice had advised in 2019 that the archipelago should be returned to Mauritius, binding ministers to a course of action that Trump then undermined. McDonald also warned that the episode reflected a broader shift in international norms, saying the US was now leading a "mood to disregard international law" that Russia and China had long practiced but Washington had not. He described the unresolved dispute as a hangover from the colonial era spanning more than half a century, adding it would now take even longer to resolve. The UK had still not received a formal exchange of notes from Washington — a technical but legally necessary step for the treaty to take effect. „When the President of the United States is openly hostile, the government has to rethink, so this agreement, this treaty will go into the deep freeze for the time being.” — Simon McDonald via BBC Radio 4

Mauritius vows legal fight, Chagossians feel abandoned Mauritian Foreign Affairs Minister Dhananjay Ramful responded to the suspension by pledging that his country would pursue every available diplomatic and legal avenue. „We will spare no effort to seize any diplomatic or legal avenue to complete the decolonisation process in this part of the Indian Ocean.” — Dhananjay Ramful via France 24 Ramful framed the matter as one of justice, and Mauritius indicated it was already examining legal instruments against London following Trump's intervention the previous month. The indigenous Chagossian community, approximately 2,000 of whom were displaced from the territory between the 1960s and 1973 to make way for the military base, also expressed dismay at the outcome. Toby Noskwith, spokesperson for the Indigenous Chagossian People campaign group, said the process had consistently sidelined the people most affected and called for accountability over the resources spent. „We are astonished to have come to this point. This has been framed mainly as a state-to-state issue but the people who have been lost throughout the process are the Chagossians, particularly elders and survivors.” — Toby Noskwith via Reuters Noskwith also raised questions about the large sums of money spent on negotiations that ultimately failed to produce a result.

£3.4 billion deal and Diego Garcia's strategic weight The agreement signed in May 2025 had envisioned the UK returning sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius while retaining a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia to preserve the joint military base. 3.4 (billion pounds) — total payments to Mauritius over 100 years under the deal Under the terms, Mauritius would have received payments of approximately £101 million annually, amounting to £3.4 billion over the century-long lease period. Diego Garcia has served as a critical staging post for US and UK military operations, including both Iraq wars in 1990-1991 and 2003-2011 and the Afghanistan campaign in 2001. During the recent US-Israel conflict with Iran, the base's strategic importance was underscored when Iran fired two ballistic missiles targeting Diego Garcia, according to reporting cited in Polish-language Politico coverage, though both missiles failed to hit their target. The suspension also reflects broader strains in the UK-US relationship, with Prime Minister Starmer having declined to support American and Israeli strikes on Iran and limiting Washington's use of British bases to what London described as "defensive operations" only. A government source described the overall situation as "deeply frustrating," while officials stressed they had not abandoned the plan entirely and that discussions with both Washington and Mauritius were continuing.

The Chagos Archipelago, comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, was acquired by the United Kingdom in 1965. London expelled the indigenous Chagossian population to make way for the construction of a US military base on Diego Garcia, with the last residents removed by 1973. The territory has been the subject of sustained legal and diplomatic dispute, and in 2019 the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion stating the archipelago should be returned to Mauritius. British sovereignty over the islands has been contested since their acquisition, and the May 2025 agreement represented the most advanced attempt yet to resolve a dispute spanning more than half a century.

Chagos Islands deal: agreed terms vs. current status: Sovereignty transfer (before: Agreed: UK to return archipelago to Mauritius, after: Suspended: bill will not pass Parliament before May 2026 session ends); Diego Garcia lease (before: Agreed: 99-year UK/US lease with extension option, after: Unresolved: formal US exchange of notes never received); Financial terms (before: Agreed: £101 million annually, £3.4 billion over 100 years, after: Suspended: no payments to commence)