LONDON: A British court on Thursday paved the way for a government deal on returning the remote Chagos Islands to Mauritius, lifting a temporary ban which had forced an 11th-hour halt to an accord being signed.
The agreement would see Britain hand back the Indian Ocean archipelago to its former colony and pay to lease a key US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island.
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer had been been due to conclude the agreement in a virtual signing ceremony with Mauritian representatives earlier on Thursday.
But in a last minute pre-dawn court hearing, two Chagossian women won a temporary injunction from London’s High Court on the deal’s progress, in an embarrassing turn of events for Starmer whose government has faced huge criticism over the plan.
After a hearing at 10:30 am (0930GMT), Judge Martin Chamberlain lifted the injunction, saying there was a “very strong case” that the UK national interest and public interest would be “prejudiced” by extending the ban.
He said any further challenges would have to be heard by the Court of Appeal.
A government spokesman said “we welcome the judge’s ruling today”.
But the opposition Conservatives have slammed the government’s Chagos Island deal as “British sovereign territory being given away” in a “bad deal” for the UK.
Earlier, the two Chagossian women, Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe applied for the injunction after a leaked newspaper report late on Wednesday indicated the government planned to unveil the deal.
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