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A Excessive Courtroom decide has briefly blocked a controversial deal for Britain at hand over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
The deal was set to be signed nearly by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Mauritian authorities officers on Thursday.
Nevertheless, at 2.25am on Thursday, Mr Justice Goose in London granted a stay of the deal in a case introduced by two Chagossian ladies towards the UK International, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace.
A listening to within the case can be held on Thursday morning. The signing of the deal has been delayed till additional discover. A press convention with British defence secretary John Healey was abruptly cancelled.
A lawyer for claimant Bertrice Pompe instructed the Monetary Instances on Thursday that his shopper was “deeply involved” concerning the authorities’s method to the deal.
“Our shopper is deeply involved that the federal government have chosen to surrender sovereignty of the Chagos Islands with none session or protections for these which are indigenous to the Islands,” mentioned Stuart Luke.
The deal entails Britain making a multibillion-pound fee to retain entry to the Diego Garcia US-UK army base whereas transferring sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius.
A Mauritian authorities official mentioned ministers wished the deal to proceed.
“In cupboard, everybody needs this to go forward, 100 per cent. For the UK, it’s just like the ‘Ming vase technique’ of carrying this over line,” the official added.
The long-planned association for the British Indian Ocean Territory has been closely criticised by the opposition UK Conservative celebration, which has accused Starmer of giving up a key strategic asset and saddling taxpayers with giant funds to retain entry.
However US criticism of the association has been muted underneath President Donald Trump. The US and UK are set to retain entry to the bottom underneath a 99-year lease.
Priti Patel, shadow UK overseas secretary, mentioned on Wednesday that the deal could be “a betrayal of our nationwide curiosity by Labour, conveniently timed for the final day earlier than parliamentary recess”.
