After Guido revealed the new Chagos minister campaigned for the islands to be used as a back door for illegal immigration to the UK the Burnham government is signalling it wants to move forward with the surrender deal. Continuity Starmerism…
This week Tory peer Baroness Finn asked the government what the status is of the “updates being made to the Exchange of Notes between the UK and USA to facilitate the UK’s primary legislation on the Agreement concerning the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia.” Such an update to the years-old Exchange of Notes would be necessary to implement the Chagos surrender…
Answering for Burnham’s government defence minister Lord Coaker said:
“The UK continues to engage closely with the United States and Mauritius on the way forward for the UK-Mauritius Agreement. The existing Exchange of Notes between the UK and the USA remains in force and there has been no change to the day-to-day operation of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.”
That is curious language that implies there is an effort to update the Exchange of Notes and push through the Chagos surrender. Don’t say Guido didn’t warn you…
Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel told Guido:
“The leader may have changed, but this is the same old Labour Party, bending to the demands of lefty lawyers and activists. This appalling deal hands over sovereign territory to an ally of China, undermines our national security and that of our allies, and costs hard-pressed British taxpayers £35 billion. It belongs on the ash heap of history.”
Burnham confirms he spoke to Trump last night about drilling in the North Sea:
“I indicated in the phone call that we had a week last Monday that I would take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea, and that is my intention as we go forward from here. There is a resource there. When people are struggling, we can’t ignore that. Hence, me indicating that to the president…”