The Chagos Islands are British. They are British today, they should remain British tomorrow, and no amount of diplomatic horse-trading between politicians in London, Washington and Port Louis changes that simple fact.
The very fact that such a statement needs to be made in 2026 tells you everything that is wrong with this extraordinary saga.
For years, the Chagossian people have watched as politicians, diplomats, lawyers and international organisations have argued over the future of their homeland. Governments have negotiated. Officials have travelled. Deals have been drafted. Meetings have been held behind closed doors. Yet somehow the one group of people who have never been properly asked what they want are the Chagossians themselves.
It is 2026, for goodness sake.
The idea that the future of an entire people can be negotiated over their heads by politicians sitting thousands of miles away belongs in a different century.
We are constantly lectured about democracy, human rights and self-determination. We are told these principles are universal and sacred. We are told they must be respected wherever they are found.
Apparently not if you are Chagossian.
The Chagossians are a distinct people with their own history, culture and identity. Most are British citizens. Many have spent decades fighting for the right to return to the homeland from which their families were removed by a former Labour Government. For generations they have carried the pain of exile while never giving up hope of returning home. They are not an inconvenience to be managed, nor a footnote to a diplomatic agreement. They are the people whose homeland is at stake, and they have every right to determine its future.
The question is remarkably simple. If handing the islands to Mauritius is such a brilliant idea, why are those promoting it so reluctant to let the Chagossian people vote on it? Why not trust democracy? Why not ask the people who actually belong to the islands? Why is everyone allowed a voice except the Chagossians themselves?
The answer is obvious. The political class already knows what the result would be.
The overwhelming majority of Chagossians want to remain British. They want to return home as British citizens. They want their children and grandchildren to grow up under the British flag in the homeland their families never stopped loving.
That reality is deeply inconvenient for Keir Starmer and those determined to push this surrender through.
The irony is almost unbearable. We are repeatedly told that transferring the islands to Mauritius is an act of decolonisation. Yet what could be more colonial than powerful governments deciding the future of an indigenous people without their consent?
This is not decolonisation. It is simply a new form of colonialism dressed up in modern language. The Chagossians are once again being told that other people know what is best for them.
The irony is almost unbearable. We are repeatedly told that transferring the islands to Mauritius is an act of decolonisation. Yet what could be more colonial than powerful governments deciding the future of an indigenous people without their consent?
Then there is Britain’s stewardship of the islands. For more than sixty years Britain has protected one of the most pristine marine environments on Earth. The British Indian Ocean Territory covers an area larger than France. Its coral reefs are the healthiest in the world. Its waters support extraordinary biodiversity. It remains one of the last great untouched places on our planet.
This did not happen by accident. British taxpayers have paid handsomely for decades to protect and preserve these islands, their unique ecosystem and the vast marine environment that surrounds them. Successive generations of British taxpayers have invested in safeguarding one of the world’s greatest natural treasures, not exploiting it.
Britain should not be ashamed of that record. Britain should be proud of it.
At a time when so many marine environments around the world have suffered from overfishing, pollution and commercial exploitation, the Chagos Islands stand as proof that careful stewardship can work. That is why so many people are concerned by what comes next.
Already Mauritian ministers are talking about fishing licences. Already there is discussion of future commercial opportunities. Meanwhile, increasing attention is being paid to the potentially valuable resources that may lie beneath the seabed. Across the world there is growing competition for rare minerals and strategic materials that could become enormously valuable in the decades ahead.
The Chagossians look at these islands and see home. British taxpayers look at them and see a national asset they have spent decades helping to protect. Others increasingly seem to see contracts, licences and opportunities for profit. That should concern every environmentalist, every taxpayer and every believer in self-determination.
Now comes the latest twist. Reports suggest that some within the Trump administration are exploring whether America could simply buy the islands.
Buy them. As though Chagos is a property transaction. As though the solution to a question of sovereignty, identity and justice is simply to write a bigger cheque.
With the greatest respect to our American friends, Chagos is not a business deal. It is not a corporate acquisition. It is not a commodity. It is a homeland.
If America believes the islands are strategically important enough to buy, surely that is itself an argument for Britain not to give them away.
Think about the absurdity of where we find ourselves.
The world’s most powerful nation recognises the value of the Chagos Islands. Military planners understand their importance. Security experts understand their importance. The Chagossians understand their importance.
Yet Keir Starmer and his Labour government want to surrender sovereignty and then pay billions of pounds for the privilege. Only a political class completely detached from common sense could regard that as a good deal.
There is another uncomfortable truth that supporters of this deal rarely address.
Diego Garcia is not just another military base. It is one of the most strategically important military facilities on Earth. For decades it has played a crucial role in protecting Western interests, projecting stability across the Indian Ocean and supporting operations in the Middle East and beyond. Recent events involving Iran have once again demonstrated its immense strategic value.
The Chagossian people understand this. Contrary to the caricature often presented by campaigners and politicians, Chagossians are not demanding the closure of Diego Garcia. They recognise its importance. They support the continued presence of the United States and its British allies on the island.
There is no contradiction between supporting the base and supporting Chagossian self-determination. There is no contradiction between protecting Western security and protecting British sovereignty. There is no contradiction between maintaining Diego Garcia and allowing Chagossians to return home as British citizens.
In fact, those goals complement one another.
A British Chagos, protected by Britain, supported by the United States and home once again to a thriving Chagossian community would be a remarkable success story. It would strengthen security, strengthen legitimacy and finally deliver justice for the people who have waited generations to return.
Instead, we are being asked to believe that surrendering sovereignty, paying billions of pounds and ignoring the wishes of the Chagossian people somehow represents progress.
A British Chagos, protected by Britain, supported by the United States and home once again to a thriving Chagossian community would be a remarkable success story. It would strengthen security, strengthen legitimacy and finally deliver justice for the people who have waited generations to return.
And let us be honest about how we arrived here.
Britain finds itself contemplating the surrender of sovereign British territory because it is led by a weak and deeply misguided Government that appears incapable of standing up for Britain’s interests. Rather than defending British sovereignty, protecting British taxpayers and standing alongside the Chagossian people, Keir Starmer’s government has pursued a deal that satisfies almost everyone except the people who actually live with its consequences.
But this story is not over.
Across Britain, ordinary patriots have refused to accept that the fate of the Chagos Islands has already been decided. The Great British PAC has spent more than a year fighting this surrender in the courts and in the court of public opinion. We have stood alongside Chagossian leaders, campaigners and legal teams because this issue transcends party politics.
It is about democracy. It is about sovereignty. It is about whether ordinary people still have the right to determine their own future.
Many said challenging this deal was impossible. Many said the decision had already been made. Many said there was no point fighting.
They were wrong.
The Chagossian cause is stronger today than it has been in years. More people understand what is happening. More people are asking questions. More people are recognising the fundamental injustice at the heart of this proposal. And we are not going away.
We will continue to fight. We will continue to challenge. We will continue to stand alongside the Chagossian people until they receive the one thing that has been denied to them throughout this entire process: a meaningful say over their own future.
The solution has always been simple. Ask the Chagossians. Let them vote. Let them decide.
Because if the political class has a shred of decency and any faith at all in the democratic principles it so often lectures the rest of us about, it should have nothing to fear from the answer.
The Chagos Islands are not for sale. They are not a bargaining chip. They are not a diplomatic currency. They are not a line on a Treasury spreadsheet.
There is no cheque large enough, no deal clever enough and no government powerful enough to extinguish a people’s right to determine their own future.
The Chagos Islands are the homeland of a people who have waited generations to return. They are British and they want to stay British.
And that is a truth worth fighting for.
By Claire Bullivant, CEO at Great British PAC
