Quote Originally Posted by Omegstrat6 View Post
I think the whole Chagos Island issue has been driven by growing concerns over independence and the legacy of colonialism Ketts. I can certainly understand the islanders wanting their land back and, whilst it is true that the lease will cost us, my understanding is that we retain autonomy of the strategically important airbase for 99 years. This is the important thing surely rather than arguments over why we should pay for something we already owned, given that we stole the land off them in the first place?
We are giving it away to Mauritius, they have no historical claim on the islands. As I understand it, the islanders themselves do not want control to pass to Mauritius anyway. As far as the British government (a misnomer if ever there was one) is concerned, their prime responsibility is the defence of the Nation and retaining control of those islands is very much in the interests of this country; that is far more important than the opinions of the hand wringing lawyers such as Starmer and his craven crew.