Burnham Says He Wants to "Recast" Chagos Islands Deal

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he wants to "recast" the British deal to cede control of the Chagos Islands, after resistance from Washington, according to The Guardian.

The Chagos Islands are home to the Diego Garcia military base, which is a joint UK-US facility. The agreement was struck by Burnham's predecessor, Keir Starmer, and would have given sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, the country that has long claimed them. Under the treaty his government signed, the UK would keep control of the base through a 99-year lease.

The financial terms were also set out. Mauritius would have received £165m over three years, then £120m a year from the fourth year. Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has said the British government has suspended those payments while the UK and US work on a compromise over the islands.

The main obstacle has come from Washington. In September, after a bilateral meeting with Burnham in New York, US President Donald Trump said: "I don’t support it – I think it’s a terrible deal."

Burnham has since told The Economist that he wanted "a new discussion" with the United States over the islands. He has also suggested that a recent agreement between the US and Denmark over Greenland could serve as a model for a solution on Diego Garcia. Under that Greenland deal, the territory remains Danish, the US may develop a significant military presence there, and its adversaries are banned from building bases.

Burnham is hoping to make progress on a deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius by the end of the year, LBC reported.

He made the Chagos remarks on the return journey from Antigua, where he attended the Commonwealth heads of government (Chogm) summit. Separately, Burnham said Russian President Vladimir Putin would be barred from the G20 meeting in Manchester next year, while Chinese President Xi Jinping would be welcome.