Early evening summary
The UK has signed a £3.4bn agreement to cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after an 11th-hour legal challenge failed. The Conservative party and Reform UK have denounced the deal very strongly, and the Tories were particularly angered by Keir Starmer saying opposing the deal meant they were siding with China, Russia and Iran. (See 3.28pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered here today, scroll through the key events timeline at the top of the blog.
Why government says Chagos Islands deal will cost £3.4bn
At his press conference Keir Starmer said that the cost of the Chagos Islands deal amounted to £3.4bn over 99 years. He has not convinced everyone to accept this figure. The Telegraph website is leading on a headline saying it will cost £10bn. The Daily Mail claims the cost will be closer to £30bn. In the Commons Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, put it at £40bn. (See 5.44pm.) On X Nigel Farage, his party leader, has gone even further, and put the total cost at £52bn.
It would be fair to say that Starmer did not do a very good job at his press conference of explaining why the government is using the £3.4bn figure. (See 3.39pm.)
At a briefing this afternoon, a government official was slightly more convincing. They said that the £101m annual payments won’t increase every year in inflation and that, even though 99 x £101m takes you to about £10bn, that does not take account of the fact that in 99 years’ time the economy is likely to be much bigger, and £10bn worth less. They said that’s why the government needs a system for calculating the cost of decades-long financial projects like this, and that under the system it uses the Chagos Islands deal has a net present value cost of £3.4bn.
Updated
