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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Aletha Adu

Starmer defends UK ceding control of Chagos Islands amid Tory criticism

Keir Starmer
Keir Starmer said securing the military base on Diego Garcia was the ‘single most important thing’. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/EPA

Keir Starmer has defended giving up UK control of the Chagos Islands, as the decision has descended into a political blame game among Conservative leadership candidates.

The prime minister said the agreement with Mauritius over the islands would secure the long-term future of a joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia, which he deemed as the “single most important thing”.

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