The Prime Minister, amid fury over his decision to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, was asked to guarantee the futures of other territories.
Keir Starmer has been compared to Jeremy Corbyn (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer sensationally refused to rule out signing away more British Overseas Territories like Gibraltar and the Falklands.
The Prime Minister, amid fury over his decision to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, was asked to guarantee the futures of other territories.
And he told reporters: “The single most important thing was ensuring that we had a secure base, the joint US-UK base; hugely important to the US, hugely important to us.
“We’ve now secured that and that is why you saw such warm words from the US yesterday.”
Keir Starmer has been heavily criticised for his Chagos Islands decision (Image: Getty)
Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick told the Daily Express: “Starmer must urgently rule out ceding more overseas territory. Gibraltar and the Falklands are British.
“His surrender proves he is completely incapable of defending Britain’s interests.
“Starmer’s foreign policy seems indistinguishable from Corbyn’s.”
Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe added: “Starmer must immediately guarantee that Labour will not surrender any other British overseas territories.
“I have asked the Foreign Office to urgently confirm this in writing.”
The Chagos Islands are home to the Diego Garcia military base, which is leased by the UK to the United States to support military operations in the Middle East.
While the deal to hand back sovereignty included provisions for the UK and US to continue using Diego Garcia for 99 years, fears are intensifying Chinese intelligence agencies could exploit Beijing’s relationship with the Mauritians to use the surrounding islands to monitor the base and British and American assets.
And former Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted on Friday he is “genuinely anxious” about the future of the Falklands.
Mr Johnson said: “What do they think, in Beijing, when they see Starmer pointlessly surrendering the Chagos Islands? They are laughing their pants off. Would they do the same? Not on your nelly. They are acquiring new bases around the world – not limp-wristedly handing over their rightful possessions.
“For the first time in decades I am now genuinely anxious about Britain overseas, from Gibraltar to the Falkland Islands.
“This is what happens when you are governed not by Blairites – as they pretended to be at the election – but by Leftie ideologues, people who secretly or openly hate such vital concepts as US hegemony, ‘Western values’, Nato and an independent British nuclear deterrent.”
Argentina’s foreign minister, Diana Mondino, has promised “concrete action” to ensure that the Falklands are handed to Buenos Aires.
In an intervention that will fuel rising Tory criticism of the UK-Mauritius agreement and its perceived implications for other overseas territories, Ms Mondino said: “The long dispute between Britain and Mauritius came to a conclusion today, with Mauritians successfully regaining their territory of Chagos.
“We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices. Following the path we have already taken, with concrete actions and not empty rhetoric, we will recover full sovereignty over our Malvinas Islands.
“The Malvinas were, are and will always be Argentine.”
In a statement earlier on Thursday, Falklands governor Alison Blake sought to reassure residents that Britain’s commitment to the South Atlantic territory was “unwavering”.
But Former Armed Forces minister Mark Francois said the deal is a “strategic disaster” for the UK and our US allies, telling said: “Not only does it threaten an eventual Chinese veto over the future of the key base on Diego Garcia, it will only embolden nations like Argentina to press for control of the Falklands.
“It’s absolute madness.”
Former minister Sir Simon Clarke added: “This decision not only compromises a vital base that is of huge value to our American allies, it also strikes at the heart of our ability to defend our continued control of other sovereign bases from Gibraltar to Cyprus, and indeed the legitimacy of our overseas territories like the Falklands.”
And Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said the decision to hand back the archipelago is “completely wrong”, adding: “It will cause great unease in our people in our overseas territories including Falklands and Gibraltar.
“We will all regret this if the Mauritians do a deal with China which would threaten our hugely strategic base in the British Ocean Territory as it is known.”
