Foreign Secretary David Lammy (Image: Getty)
has been accused of misleading the House of Commons over the Chagos deal by an MP from his own party.
Labour MP Peter Lamb said there was “certainly evidence” that statements made by the Foreign Secretary in the chamber “do not appear to be true”.
He referred to claims by Mr Lammy that the Government has engaged with the Chagossians throughout negotiations.
The controversial deal would relinquish sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, which is home to a joint UK-US military base, to Mauritius.
Mr Lamb made the comments, reported by The Independent, at a meeting in Parliament for MPs to engage with indigenous Chagossian people.
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Carl Buckley, a lawyer working with the Chagossian Voices campaign group, told the meeting: “We have a secretary of state who is on the record saying, all of these [people] have been consulted when they have not.
“There is a refusal to correct the record, there is a refusal to respond to correspondence that they have sent. There is an utter refusal to engage with these people. So their humanity, their individuality, is being ignored.
“They were forcibly removed from their homes, but they are again being ignored now over 50 years later when we are discussing their homeland.”
Mr Lamb, whose Crawley constituency is home to the largest community of Chagossians in the UK, replied: “I’ve forwarded their [Chagossian Voices] correspondence again and asked for a response. Freedom of Information requests are going largely unanswered, the argument being national security, which I find very difficult with the questions that I was asking.”
He added: “There is certainly evidence that statements made in the house by the Foreign Secretary do not appear to be true.”
Speaking in the Commons last October, Mr Lammy said: “Of course we kept the Chagossians informed all along the way.”
It comes as the future of the deal is looking increasingly uncertain amid criticism from members of US President ‘s top team.
Critics fear it will further open up the Indian Ocean to China’s reach.
A government spokesperson said: “The negotiations were between the UK and Mauritius with our priority being to secure the full operation of the base on Diego Garcia.
“We recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians and have worked to ensure this agreement reflects their interests. The UK government, under both the previous and current administration, has been engaged with Chagossians at both official and ministerial level during negotiations which first started in November 2022.
“As part of the agreement, we will finance a new trust fund for Mauritius to use in support of the Chagossian community. We will work with Mauritius to start a new programme of visits for Chagossians to the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia. And Mauritius will be free to develop a programme of resettlement on the islands, other than Diego Garcia.”