Proceeding contribution from Priti Patel (Conservative) in the House of Commons on Wednesday, 26 February 2025. It occurred during Opposition day on British Indian Ocean Territory.
British Indian Ocean Territory
My right hon. Friend is absolutely correct. Sovereignty matters, and the Minister could not admit it to the House yesterday in the Chamber, but perhaps when a Minister sums up today they can confirm that change in position. We need to know whether we have lost sovereignty and lost control.
Fourthly, it is clear there has been a change in the lease agreement—this letter makes that crystal clear. When the Foreign Secretary made his statement to the House on 7 October 2024, he stated that the lease
“is initially for 99 years, but the UK has the right to extend that.”
—[Official Report, 7 October 2024; Vol. 754, c. 46.]
The impression given was that this could be unilaterally extended, as he would not say at the time that both parties needed to agree.
Secondary information
- Type
- Proceeding contribution
- Reference
- 762 c867
- Session
- 2024-26
- Chamber / Committee
- House of Commons chamber
- Subjects
- Costs Judgements Mauritius Military bases Diego Garcia Sovereignty International Court of Justice USA Chagossians Chagos Islands
- Link
- View this Proceeding contribution on hansard.parliament.uk
Librarians' tools
- Timestamp
- 2025-09-05 20:08:42 +0100
- URI
- http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-02-26/25022679000032
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- http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://hansard.intranet.data.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-02-26/25022679000032
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