Labour MP joins Chagossian leader in appeal to Lords to block Chagos Bill

A Labour MP has joined the First Minister of the Chagossian Government in Exile in an unprecedented appeal to the House of Lords, urging peers to reject the Government’s controversial Chagos legislation at Third Reading.

Graham Stringer, the Labour MP for Blackley and Middleton South, has co-signed a detailed letter sent individually to every peer, alongside Misley Mandarin, the First Minister of the Chagossian Government in Exile.

The letter sets out twelve reasons why the Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill should be stopped, arguing that the circumstances are exceptional and justify the Lords taking the rare step of killing a Bill at Third Reading.

The intervention is significant not only because of its timing, on the day of the Bill’s Third Reading in the Upper House, but because it comes from within the Labour Party itself, with Mr Stringer breaking ranks to support Chagossian objections to a flagship foreign policy decision of Sir Keir Starmer’s Government.

In their joint letter, the authors acknowledge that the House of Lords “very rarely votes against a Bill at Third Reading” but argue that “there are occasions when it must” and that “this is one of them”.

They write: “The most serious sanction available to the Lords within its revising role is to delay a Bill for a Parliamentary Session. That power exists for exceptional cases, and if it is not used in circumstances such as these, it is difficult to see when it would ever be used.”

The letter directly challenges the argument that the Lords should defer to the elected Government under the Salisbury Convention, stating that the Chagos Bill does not give effect to a Labour manifesto commitment and in fact breaches one.

“In this case, that argument does not apply,” the letter states, adding that the Bill “violates the Labour manifesto commitment to ‘always defend [British Overseas Territories’] sovereignty and right to self-determination’”. It continues: “This Bill does neither. Even as amended, it offers only a non-binding and uncertain form of self-determination, while transferring sovereignty away from the people concerned.”

The twelve substantive objections that follow range from international law and parliamentary process to environmental protection and global security.

The authors point to what they describe as a “highly unusual” intervention by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which has called on the UK to suspend ratification of the treaty. They warn peers: “If the Lords allow the Bill to pass, they are not deferring to international law; they are actively facilitating its dismissal.”

On self-determination, the letter argues that the Bill “alters the territorial integrity of the Chagos Islands without affording the Chagossian people a credible, binding act of self-determination”, noting that “there is no clear delivery mechanism for honouring a no vote”.

The authors also criticise the Government for rejecting an alternative approach that would have allowed resettlement of the Chagossians, excluding Diego Garcia, as a self-governing British Overseas Territory. They write that such an approach “would have secured BIOT’s legal status, preserved the American base with complete operational freedom, and avoided even the appearance of setting a precedent” under international nuclear treaties.

Concerns are also raised about Mauritius’s ability to administer the islands. The letter notes that Mauritius is “more than 1,000 miles away” and “does not possess a navy”, adding that “a country that cannot reach its new territory under its own steam to raise its own flag will not be able to resettle the Chagossians”.

Parliamentary handling of the Bill is a further focus. The letter accuses the Government of abusing process by withdrawing and re-tabling motions to avoid amendments, compressing scrutiny in the Commons, and denying time for debate on a motion under the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act opposing ratification, despite it being signed by 107 MPs from six parties.

On environmental grounds, the authors emphasise that Britain has preserved “one of the most pristine marine environments on Earth”, noting that 59 of the 60 islands are inhabited only by wildlife and warning that “environmental protection, once surrendered, cannot be clawed back”.

The letter also highlights the strategic importance of the archipelago, warning that the treaty “replaces certainty with fragility” through reliance on “a foreign sovereign landlord, international arbitration, long-term payment obligations, and leverage that hostile powers will exploit”.

A further concern is the precedent the Bill could set. “It treats an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice as determinative of British sovereignty,” the letter says, adding: “If Parliament accepts this logic, no British Overseas Territory is safe.”

In its closing passages, the letter appeals directly to the constitutional role of the Upper House. “Peers often describe themselves as guardians of constitutional propriety. Guardianship is not symbolic; it is functional,” it states, concluding: “This is the last moment the Lords can act. Once ratified, sovereignty is gone. Leverage is gone. Delay is impossible.”

The letter is signed jointly by Misley Mandarin, “First Minister of the Chagossian Government in Exile”, and Graham Stringer MP, Labour MP for Blackley and Middleton South.

Whether peers will heed the call remains to be seen, but the intervention places renewed pressure on the Government as it seeks to steer the Bill through its final parliamentary stages amid mounting legal, political and international controversy.

The 3rd Reading of the Bill is expected to take place today from approximately 3pm in the House of Lords.

READ THE LETTER IN FULL BELOW: