UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting announced that Britain will review its agreement to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after US President Donald Trump criticized the deal as "terrible" during a meeting with UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham at the UN General Assembly. The UK has suspended annual lease payments of £120 million for Diego Garcia, a strategic military base used by both Britain and the United States. Defence Secretary Streeting confirmed that further negotiations are needed to align the deal with US approval, while rejecting calls from opposition Conservatives to scrap the agreement entirely.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-23,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Wes Streeting, Britain’s defence secretary, announced that annual payments worth at least £120 million to Mauritius are on hold as the government reconsiders an agreement over the Chagos Islands. This decision came after Donald Trump criticized the deal during a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham at the UN General Assembly in New York. The original agreement would see the UK cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius and pay approximately £101 million annually to lease back a joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, which is strategically important due to its location in the Indian Ocean.
Streeting emphasized that the deal cannot proceed without US support, highlighting the need for cooperation with American allies to ensure the agreement safeguards the long-term future of the base at Diego Garcia. The defence secretary noted that previous efforts to adapt the deal have not succeeded, and current negotiations are focused on reaching an arrangement that both Mauritius and the US can accept.
Written for “Chagos Islands Deal” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 38 other(s) covering the same event.
Britain has suspended its €139 million-a-year lease payments for the Diego Garcia base while ministers try to reshape the agreement into one Washington can accept, with the Conservatives calling for it to be scrapped altogether.
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it → suspend → one
Britain will go back to the drawing board on its agreement to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said on Wednesday.
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Streeting → go → Wednesday
The move comes a day after US President Donald Trump attacked the deal during his first meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
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Trump → come → Burnham
The two leaders met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
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leaders → meet → York
With Burnham sitting beside him, Trump said he expected the British leader to reconsider the "terrible deal".
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leader → sit → deal
Burnham nodded and replied "yep".
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Burnham → nod → ?
Burnham, who succeeded Keir Starmer in July, later told broadcasters that Britain would "work hard" to resolve the issue and that he was "confident we can find it working with our US partners".
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it → succeed → partners
Speaking to the BBC, Streeting said Trump's objections were "not news to us".
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objections → speak → us
But he said the president's latest remarks "provide absolute clarity that his position on this Chagos deal as currently drafted is not changing".
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position → say → deal
"So we have to do more work with our American allies, with President Trump and his administration, to get the deal to a place where we can support it," he said.
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he → have → it
Streeting also confirmed that Britain would not "at this stage" make the annual payments of at least £120 million (€139 million) it had agreed to pay Mauritius to lease back the military base on Diego Garcia.
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it → confirm → Garcia
The agreement, reached last year between Starmer and the Mauritian government, would hand the Indian Ocean archipelago back to Britain's former colony.
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agreement → reach → colony
Britain would then lease the strategic US-UK base on Diego Garcia for 99 years, with the option to extend.
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Britain → lease → option
Britain announced in April that the plans were on hold.
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plans → announce → hold
Trump first backed the pact but later turned against it, calling it "an act of great stupidity", and it has caused friction with his administration for months.
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it → back → months
Starmer defended the agreement by arguing that international legal rulings had cast doubt on Britain's claim to the islands, and that only a deal with Mauritius could secure continued US and UK use of the base.
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deal → defend → base
Britain held on to the Chagos Islands when Mauritius became independent in the 1960s.
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Mauritius → hold → 1960s
It removed thousands of islanders, who have since brought a series of compensation claims in British courts.
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who → remove → courts
In 2019, the International Court of Justice concluded that Britain unlawfully separated Chagos from Mauritius when ending colonial rule..
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Britain → conclude → rule
James Cartlidge, defence spokesman for the opposition Conservatives, said the agreement "should be binned entirely".
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agreement → say → Conservatives
Streeting rejected that approach.
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Streeting → reject → approach
He told Times Radio: "The ostrich strategy of sticking our heads in the sand and hoping it (will) go away ... is not a wise strategy when it concerns one of the most sensitive national security assets we have anywhere in the world."
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we → tell → world
Jack Pannell, a senior researcher at the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, told AFP that Burnham's focus with Trump would be on "the big international issues", such as AI regulation, Ukraine and the Middle East.
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focus → tell → regulation
"Success for Burnham means avoiding this issue becoming a millstone around his neck while he pursues his other foreign policy priorities and focuses on his domestic agenda," Pannell said.
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Pannell → mean → agenda
"The chances of a breakthrough on this issue are slim, and that may suit the prime minister just fine.
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that → suit → minister
Also on Tuesday, Trump signed a security agreement with the leaders of Greenland and Denmark that will allow the US to build two military bases in southern and eastern Greenland.
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US → sign → Greenland
The Aporia
