The issue of trust is beginning to haunt the Labour government

For the last few weeks I have had good cause to write about particular aspects of our new Labour government’s policy decisions and the conduct of its ministers, most notably the Prime Minister. As each Sunday approaches I have to weigh up what issue I might address to start the week off and I usually expect it will be different from the last. That is no longer the case.

It is becoming clear that Labour has a problem with trust. While Keir Starmer has been in power for little more than three months the charge sheet of broken promises and the trail of deception grows ever longer, the latest being the announcement of the UK’s transference of sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, with the exception of the Diego Garcia military base that shall be held on a 99-year lease.

I am sure many, possibly the majority, of those who learned of the transfer had never heard of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean before the joint statement of the two governments was issued last Thursday. I suspect many will also see it as a perfectly sensible policy of “decolonising” distant outposts that are a hangover from days of empire that are now anachronistic and indefensible. There are certainly many politicians and lawyers in London willing to make that case, yet it is not quite that simple, for background details suggests it is yet another embarrassment raising serious questions about whose side the Foreign Office is on and whose human rights are being defended.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy is presiding over the transference of sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius (Picture: Dan Kitwood/Pool/AFP)

The strategic beneficiary of the transfer of sovereignty is undoubtedly China. In the context of defending our world trade from fear of piracy or hostile naval threats, giving Mauritius the ability to lease use of the Chagos Islands to the Chinese military or others is short sighted in the extreme. If you doubt this risk then I ask you to look at the actions of the Chinese Navy in the waters around the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan. There is no legitimacy to challenging the Diego Garcia base as the Chagos islands had been separated as a British Indian Ocean Territory in 1965 before the independence of Mauritius in 1968. The Diego Garcia base lies at a strategic point where it has provided air support to guard the sea lanes keeping supply chains vital to our commerce moving.

There is, however, the danger to international support towards the UK’s legitimate retention of Gibraltar and the Falklands Islands, as well as the RAF bases on Cyprus. No surprise, then, that Argentina immediately went on the diplomatic offensive once the news about the Chagos Islands broke.

Yet for all those arguments that will be debated by those who question Britain’s strategic international commitments, the issue of decolonisation is the most fatuous. Yes, there were as many as 2,000 Chagossians displaced by the creation of the Diego Garcia military base, many of whom campaigned to be able to return to that island, but within the Chagossian community that was not confused with making the islands part of Mauritius. Now there is every possibility that Chagossians will challenge the Labour Government’s decision in our courts.

Indeed, the treatment of Mauritian Creoles by their own government gives cause for concern about the future human rights of Chagossians. That Foreign secretary David Lammy, not one to miss a chance to talk negatively of Britain’s past roles in slavery, colonisation and imperialism, will be responsible for having the Chagossians transferred, without any consultation, into the hands of the Mauritian Government reveals just how contorted is his ideology of identity politics. Such a transfer without consent surely has the makings of an act of slavery.

Nine days before Labour’s announcement – made during recess so that neither the prime minister nor the Foreign Secretary could be questioned in Parliament – Lord Kempsell asked Labour ministers in Parliament to explain what was happening with British Indian Ocean Territory. They replied it was “too early to speculate” – a form of words that was a deception if not a lie.

Those who argued Parliament must vote on the process and final outcome of Brexit negotiations surely cannot deny the giving away of sovereignty and transference of citizens’ rights to another country without a debate and vote, where everyone’s view becomes a visible matter of record, is wrong. For many this dispute matters little, but it reveals much about the double standards of Keir Starmer’s Labour and how the issue of trust – or their contempt for it – runs through his government like veins of colour in Italian marble.

As if the Chagos debacle is not shameful enough for Labour, it is also a damning indictment of Conservative parliamentarians who, in their pursuit of being Tory-lite started sovereignty negotiations, conducted enthusiastically by then Foreign Secretary and current leadership contestant James Cleverly. David Cameron halted the talks after replacing him, but Lammy revived them.

So we have Labour breaking its promises on taxation, with more to come; the previous commitments given on winter fuel payments – worthless; the closing of non-dom “loopholes” now unlikely; the promise to keep Port Talbot blast furnace open – broken; stating it would leave alone fiscal rules – abandoned; saying energy bills would be cut – now agreeing to increase them; and now the transfer of the Chagos Islands being announced as a fait accompli after denying any such intent.

There appears to be no issue big or small, close or distant, cheap or costly, left or right, that Labour can be trusted on. The point is the self-righteous Starmer and his team were meant to be better than this. They were meant to be a change from the Conservatives saying one thing and doing another – but that was the biggest lie of all – and if it’s not clear now I am certain it will be when the next general election comes along.

Brian Monteith is a former member of the Scottish and European parliaments.