Chagos deal remains on track, says UK minister

The UK government has insisted Mauritius is ready to finalise a deal over the future of the Chagos Islands, despite the country's new PM demanding better .

Under the agreement announced in October, the UK would hand sovereignty over the islands to Mauritius, but maintain a 99-year lease over the UK-US military airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia.

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel told MPs that it was a "monumental failure of statecraft", while Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said there was "very deep disquiet" about it among US President-elect Donald Trump's incoming team.

Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty argued the deal was in all sides' interests.

On Tuesday, Mauritius said it had put forward changes to the original deal, which was struck shortly before then-Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth suffered a landslide defeat in a general election.

His successor Navin Ramgoolam told the Mauritian parliament he was "still willing to conclude an agreement", but the draft deal was not good enough for his country.

He did not spell out what changes he was seeking.

In the Commons, Conservative Dame Priti accused the Labour government of putting the UK's national security at risk, ignoring the interests of Chagossians, and "letting our standing go into freefall" in an increasingly dangerous world.

"If the deal is so good, why has the government been so secretive about the details":[]}