Keir Starmer's Labour lackeys blocked me from debate on Chagos surrender

On Monday I was due to speak in the debate on the Chagos islands surrender by the Government. I left Belfast in plenty of time but due the vagaries of late planes, trains and tubes - (we waited 10 minutes for a tube at Baker Street!) I arrived three minutes into the debate. Instead of showing discretion to those of us who had travelled over from Northern Ireland to take part in the debate we were not allowed to participate by the Government whips.

The fact that those of us who wanted to take part in the debate but were not allowed would be speaking against the shameful treaty I'm sure had nothing to do with the decision. It is off course ironic that I had gone to London with the sole purpose of speaking up for people who had been silenced only to be silenced myself.

So, what was I going to say? There is so much to say about this terrible deal, but I was going to concentrate, due to the constraints of time on the disgraceful treatment of the Chagossians people living here in the UK.

In my role as one of the parliamentary advisors to the Friends of the British Overseas Territories I have met with many members of the proud Chagossian community here in the UK. A more genuine, passionate and authentic group of individuals you could not meet.

Take Bernadette Dugasse for example who very clearly told me that she had never been a Mauritian and she never would be. Misley Mandarin another Chagossian who served our country in the armed forces, told me about the lack of engagement with the Chagossians by the Government both before and after they signed over the sovereignty of their homeland - a couple of zoom calls was the height of it - how disgraceful. Little wonder Misley is challenging the Treaty in the courts through a judicial Review due to lack of engagement.

Frankie Bontemps related to me that he wanted just three simple things - the right to self-determination, the right to return to his homeland and the right to dignity. How sad that he has been totally ignored by this Government who has trampled over his hopes and rights just as a labour Government did in the 1960s.

I am raising the voices of the Chagossians who I have the privilege of meeting because they have not been heard anywhere in this squalid deal.

The hurt that is felt by them is exacerbated by the Mauritius which off course is not true and indeed Chagossians who were displaced to Mauritius are often treated as second class citizens or worse if they declare themselves as Chagossians.

It was a political decision to do this deal, not a legal decision as a letter released on the 26th June from the International Relations and Defence committee to the Foreign Secretary points out.

The Government should stop pretending there was a legal imperative to do the deal and acknowledge the damage which has been visited upon the Chagossian people.

The Mauritian Prime Minister rightly referred to this deal as a great victory - for him that is absolutely true. It completes he said, "the process of decolonisation started in 1968".

Meanwhile the only mention of Chagossians in the Treaty is the setting up of a Trust Fund controlled by Mauritius but off course capitalised by the UK - Chagossians living in the UK are not mentioned in connection with this Trust Fund and therefore will see no benefit.

Even the United Nations is concerned about this Treaty and the shoddy treatment of the Chagossians and surely that must concern this particular Government who always want to be on the right side of the UN.

There is so much which is bad about this Treaty - the cost, the impact on national security, the handing away of sovereignty of a British overseas territory without an exercise in self-determination, the lack of detail and oversight on environmental protection for what is a highly significant area.

All of that is bad, but even if none of that were true, this Treaty should be dropped solely because of the disgraceful treatment of the Chagossian people - no right of self-determination; no right to return and no dignity. If this Government won't do the right thing, I hope the Courts will.