Sir Keir Starmer Defends Chagos Islands Deal After Tory Leader Brands It 'Immoral Surrender'

Transcript

00:00Mr. Speaker, when Labour negotiates, our country loses.

00:05Yesterday we heard the government offered £18 billion for Mauritius to take our territory

00:14in the Chagos Islands.

00:16This is money that belongs to our children and their children.

00:21This is an immoral surrender so North London lawyers can boast at their dinner parties.

00:30Mr. Speaker, let me deal with the serious issue she raises in relation to the Chagos

00:36case.

00:38This is a military base that is vital to our national security and to national security.

00:45A number of years ago, the legal certainty of that base was thrown into doubt.

00:51Mr. Speaker, let me be clear and I'll pick my words carefully.

00:56Without legal certainty, the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should.

01:03That is bad for our national security and it's a gift to our adversaries.

01:08Some within the party opposite know exactly what I'm talking about.

01:14That is why, Mr. Speaker, that is why the last government started negotiations about

01:20sovereignty and about securing the long-term use of the base.

01:25Mr. Speaker, they were right to do so.

01:29That's why the last government conducted 11 of the 13 rounds of those negotiations

01:35and, Mr. Speaker, they were right to do so.

01:40That is why this government has completed that process and we were right to do so.

01:45Mr. Speaker, I will set out the details when they're finalised and it will, of course,

01:49be presented to Parliament, but if the Leader of the Opposition is properly briefed on the

01:56national security implications when she's asking these questions, which she's perfectly

02:01entitled to do, then she knows exactly what I'm talking about in terms of national security

02:08and legal certainty.

02:09If, on the other hand, she's not properly briefed on the national security implications,

02:16she's not doing her job, she's not concerned about national security and she's not fit

02:21to be Prime Minister.