Britain reviews the Chagos handover after Trump's rejection
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said on Wednesday that Britain is reviewing the deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius because the United States does not support the current text. The BBC and The Guardian both tie that review to Donald Trump calling the draft terrible. Payments to Mauritius are not going ahead at this stage. Officials told The Guardian they see no near path to a text Trump will accept.
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Streeting says the text is under review
Britain's defence secretary, Wes Streeting, said on Wednesday 23 September that the government is reviewing the agreement to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The BBC reported his reason in his own terms: the United States does not support the deal as drafted, so London has to look at it again. He told BBC Breakfast that what President Donald Trump said on Tuesday was not new, but that it gave absolute clarity the American position on the current draft is not changing, and that more work with the Trump administration is required before Britain can support the text. The Guardian's Wednesday account matches that trigger. After Trump called the arrangement a terrible deal in a meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham at the UN General Assembly, officials told the paper the handover stays on hold for as long as Trump objects.[1], [2]
What the paused text still says
The BBC sets out the text that is being reviewed. The 2025 agreement would transfer sovereignty to Mauritius and lease back the joint British-American base on Diego Garcia, the largest island, for 99 years. The BBC reported an average payment of 101 million pounds, about 136 million dollars, a year, and a net cost the UK government put at 3.4 billion pounds. The deal was paused indefinitely in April after Trump withdrew his support, and the text signed in May 2025 had not passed Parliament. Streeting said no money would be handed to Mauritius at this stage while that review continues. Mauritius argues it was illegally forced to give the islands away in 1965 as the price of independence. In 2019 the International Court of Justice, in a non-binding advisory opinion, found the separation unlawful, and Britain opened negotiations in 2022.[1]
Officials see no quick rewrite
The Guardian adds what London thinks can actually move. Officials said there is no immediate sign the deal can be rewritten into a form Trump will accept, and one official put the condition bluntly: until the president changes his mind there will not be any progress. Trump, speaking after his first in-person meeting with Burnham, told reporters he does not support the deal and thinks it is terrible, claiming Mauritius suddenly asserted ownership. The BBC and The Guardian therefore describe the same Wednesday decision, a review forced by a settled American refusal, and they split the rest. The BBC carries the money, the lease and the legal history of the islands. The Guardian carries the internal judgement that adaptation is not in sight. Streeting's public line and that private assessment sit side by side: the text is being worked, and the people doing the work do not see a version the White House will take.[1], [2]
