Labour MP Alex Ballinger has defended the Government's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, insisting it will cost £3.4billion rather than the £30billion figure claimed by critics.Speaking to GB News, Ballinger firmly rejected the higher estimate, stating: "I'm saying the way that the Civil Service calculates the cost of these things means that it costs £3.4billion. It's how we compare it to other projects. It's 2 per cent of the defence budget".FULL STORY HERE.
00:00So it is a good deal. People watching this and listening to this will be saying we shouldn't be spending any money at all giving away our own sovereign territory to Mauritius, not least, and from a military perspective, I'd be really intrigued by your response to this.
00:15When there is a clause in the deal saying that the UK is to inform Mauritius of any warlike activity conducted from it. Now, defence and security experts are now worried that Mauritius might pass on information to their friends in China and Russia. That's hugely concerning, isn't it?
00:34I think that's a complete mischaracterisation. Mauritius is a Commonwealth ally. They agree with us that China is a threat. There are clauses built into the contract that specifically exclude countries like China and Russia from developing anything anywhere near the base.
00:54The checks that the contracts have gone through have gone through the American system. I might say the Americans, the Australians, the Canadians, the New Zealanders, they've all welcomed this deal because they know how vital it is.
01:04But the five eyes intelligence sharing operations in the Indo-Pacific. So it's not right to say that Mauritius is a threat. They are a close friend of ours. They are not associated with China. They're an ally of India more than any other country.
01:19And yet the person who was sitting on the ICJ when this was kind of floated and Lord Hermer and others suddenly decided this was a great idea, this Chagos giveaway, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
01:31Well, I'm not aware of that, I'm afraid. But as I say, the negotiations have been checked off by the Americans, by the Trump administration, through all of the interagency process that includes all of the American security agencies.
01:47And they're happy with the deal. They're happy it secures our interests in the area from countries like China and Russia.
