Chagos Islands Deal: Badenoch Challenges Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions

Recap: Badenoch presses PM on Chagos Badenoch has finished with her questions, but the PM is still facing backbench MPs. The Tory leader focused her questions on the Chagos Islands and Donald Trump's criticism of the UK's deal. She urged the PM to scrap the agreement and spend the money on defence instead. The PM said the US president has previously expressed support for the deal and that his more recent attack had been designed to force the UK to change its position Greenland - something Starmer said he would not do. Badenoch accused Starmer of being too weak to stand up for the UK national interest, while the PM said she had failed to show solidarity on the Greenland issue. Relationship with the US matters, says Starmer Time for leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey. He says the Commons remembers when ex-prime minister Tony Blair "tied himself to an unpopular American president and a disastrous foreign policy" as close allies "looked on in horror". He asks if Starmer will "avoid Blair's historic mistake" and join Canadian Prime Minister Carney and French President Macron and "stand up strongly to President Trump". Starmer repeats how he "will not yield" in relation to Greenland, but says: "The relationship with the US matters". The PM says the UK has to work with its allies, including the US, to resolve Russia's war in Ukraine. He calls it "foolhardy" to think the UK should abandon its relationship with America. Starmer says he has spent last week working with Nato allies Badenoch says Starmer is too weak on what she calls the Chinese "spy hub" embassy, the Chagos islands, protecting veterans and funding for the armed forces. She asks whether he is too weak to stand up for the UK national interest. Starmer responds by saying that he spent the last week working with Nato allies to protect the national interest and working for unity in the alliance – while he claims that she has failed to rise to the occasion and show solidarity. She spent the last week trying to hold together what is left of the Tory party, he says. Front bench would be 'empty' if PM sacked MPs undermining Labour - Badenoch This is the first PMQs session since ex-shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick's defection to Reform UK last week. Badenoch says if the prime minister sacked everyone undermining Labour, his "front bench would be empty". She moves on to asking the PM whether he will vote in support of plans the Conservatives are putting forward, which she claims will protect veterans from unfair prosecutions. Starmer says the last government passed legislation which was "struck down" and left veterans "exposed", whereas he says his government is putting in measures to "protect them". Why does the UK have control of the Chagos Islands and why has it reached this deal? We've been hearing a lot about the Chagos Islands deal at PMQs today - here's a reminder of the details of that deal. Last year, the UK struck a deal to return sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, after a UN court ruled in 2019 that the UK's administration of Chagos is wrong and should be given up. The islands were separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony. Britain purchased the islands for £3m but Mauritius has argued that it was illegally forced to give them away as part of a deal to gain independence. The UK reached an agreement that would see Britain retain control of a UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the territory and a key position in the Indian Ocean. A government spokesperson said on Tuesday that ministers had acted "because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future". Money for Chagos deal should go to the military - Badenoch Badenoch says the money spent by the government on Chagos should go towards the armed forces. She tells the Commons that the head of the Armed Forces has warned that the British military faces a £28bn shortfall. "Is he right?" she asks the PM. Starmer says this government is spending more on defence than any government since the last Labour government. Badenoch urges Starmer to scrap Chagos deal Badenoch repeats Trump's words calling the Chagos deal an "act of total stupidity". "We didn't need Trump to say that, we've been saying it for the past 12 months," she adds. She urges the PM to scrap the deal and put the money into defence instead. Starmer repeats that the purpose of Trump's words was to get him to "yield on his principle". He says Badenoch is backing arguments intended to undermine Britain's position Greenland. Badenoch moves on to ask about Chagos deal Badenoch moves on to ask the PM if he agrees that people from the Chagos Islands should get to decide their own future, as he believes the people of Greenland should do. Starmer says he made his position clear, and that Trump’s words on Chagos yesterday were different from the previous words of support when we met a the White House. Remember: Trump said on Tuesday that the UK's deal to hand sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius is "an act of GREAT STUPIDITY". Starmer says Trump "wants me to yield on my position and I'm not going to do so" and that he is surprised Badenoch has jumped on the bandwagon and chosen opportunism over the UK's national interest. UK 'letting us down' on Chagos - US Treasury Secretary Jack Fenwick Political correspondent Ahead of PMQs we have heard from US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has said the UK is "letting us down" by handing sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Yesterday Downing Street said it still believed the US supported the deal, despite President Trump's social media posts. Bessent said: "President Trump has made it clear that we will not outsource our national security or our hemispheric security to any other countries. "Our partner the UK is letting us down with the base on Diego Garcia, which we had shared together for many, many years and they want to turn it over to Mauritius. "So President Trump is serious here." Chinese mega-embassy approved for London despite security risk warnings Becky Morton Political reporter This week, the UK approved China's plans for a huge new embassy in central London, despite opponents warning it could be used as a base for spying and pose security risks. Security Minister Dan Jarvis said intelligence agencies had been "integral" to the process and he was "content any risks are being appropriately managed". The decision, which has repeatedly been delayed, had posed a challenge for the government, as it seeks to balance its desire for closer ties with Beijing with warnings of the threat posed by China. Conservative shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: "Keir Starmer has sold off our national security to the Chinese Communist Party with his shameful super embassy surrender." There's more on the plans, and the objections, in our news story. Global events loom large over PMQs Joshua Nevett Political reporter With international affairs dominating the prime minister’s agenda this week, Starmer could face questions about his approach to relations with President Trump and his threats to take control of Greenland. As usual, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will get the opportunity to put six questions to the PM. In recent months, Badenoch’s performances have been sharper and she’s tended to stick to one big theme throughout her interrogation of Starmer. And in what’s been a busy news week so far, she is not short of topics to bring up. One could be Trump’s criticism of the UK’s plan to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius - a deal the US president branded “an act of GREAT STUPIDITY”. The Tories have opposed the deal under Badenoch. But she may be tempted to focus on some big domestic issues, such as the rise in inflation, or the decision to approve a new Chinese embassy in London, something else she has criticised. Let’s see. Tobacco prices and airfares push UK inflation to 3.4% This morning we heard from the Office for National Statistics that the inflation rate for the year to December hit 3.4% The increase was above expectations, with some economists having predicted an uptick to 3.3% from November's 3.2%. The figures have been driven by an increase in tobacco prices and airfares, according to the ONS. Chancellor Rachel Reeves says her priority is cutting the cost of living and that there is "more to do" on the economy, but shadow chancellor Mel Stride blames the rise on what he called the government's "economic mismanagement".