The Chagos Conundrum
Labour Lies Exposed
The mask has finally slipped. After months of spin and obfuscation, the true cost of Sir Keir Starmer's catastrophic Chagos Islands deal has been laid bare. It's ten times higher than what Labour told the British people.
Freedom of Information requests submitted have exposed what can only be described as a breathtaking act of deception. According to The Telegraph, the Government's own estimate of the cost of giving away the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius is almost £35bn, according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act – far higher than the £3.4bn figure Sir Keir has previously used in public.
A £35 Billion Betrayal
Let's be crystal clear about what this means. The actual expense of Britain's agreement with Mauritius amounts to £35 billion across 99 years. This is a deliberate attempt to mislead Parliament and the British taxpayer about the true cost of Labour's surrender.
Conservative shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel accused ministers of trying to 'cover up' the cost of ceding the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. She's absolutely right. This government has used what Dame Priti correctly identifies as an "accountancy trick" to hide the astronomical price tag from public scrutiny.
The Lies Keep Coming
Even when confronted with their own government's figures, Labour ministers continue to deny reality. Justice Minister Alex Davies-Jones has strongly refuted Conservative allegations that the Government's Chagos Islands agreement will cost taxpayers £35 billion rather than the stated £3.4 billion. The minister told GB News that the Government "does not recognise that figure at all".
This is beyond absurd. These aren't opposition figures or media speculation – these are the government's own calculations from the Government Actuary's Department. Yet Labour ministers stand before the cameras and flatly deny what their own civil servants have calculated. If this isn't lying to the British people, what is?
A Deal That Gets Worse
As if the eye-watering cost wasn't bad enough, reports suggest the deal is getting even more expensive. In February 2025 the prime minister of Mauritius stated that the UK government offered a revised deal regarding the Chagos islands. This included Mauritius gaining complete sovereignty over the island of Diego Garcia, the location of a US military base, and a doubling of the initial £9 billion payment to Mauritius to £18 billion.
So not only did Labour lie about the original cost, but they may now be doubling down on their disastrous deal, potentially handing over even more money and crucially, complete control of Diego Garcia – home to one of the world's most strategically important military bases.
What £35 Billion Could Have Bought
To put this staggering sum into perspective, £35 billion is more than the entire annual budget for the Department for Transport. It's equivalent to building dozens of new hospitals, funding hundreds of thousands of additional teachers, or providing tax relief to millions of hard-pressed families.
Instead, Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy have chosen to hand this money over to Mauritius in exchange for giving away British territory. It's the most expensive surrender in British history, and they tried to hide the true cost from the very people who will have to pay for it.
A Pattern of Deception
This Chagos cover-up is part of a disturbing pattern from this Labour government. From the winter fuel payment cuts that will leave pensioners freezing, to the jobs tax that will hammer small businesses, to now this £35 billion giveaway, Labour's approach is consistent: announce popular-sounding policies, hide the true costs, then hope nobody notices until it's too late.
The British people deserve better than this. They deserve a government that tells the truth about the costs of its decisions, not one that uses "accountancy tricks" to hide multi-billion pound commitments from public scrutiny.
Time for Accountability
The revelation emerged through a Freedom of Information request, which obtained documents from the Government Actuary's Department showing the deal's true cost at £34.7 billion in nominal terms. Without Conservative and Reform pressure and the FOI process, we might never have known the true scale of Labour's deception.
This raises serious questions about what else this government is hiding. If they're prepared to mislead Parliament and the public about a £35 billion commitment, what other financial time bombs are lurking in the small print of government policy?
Parliament must demand answers. Ministers who knowingly misled MPs about the costs of this deal should consider their positions. The British people voted for change, not for a government that would deceive them about the biggest financial commitments in decades.
The Bottom Line
The Chagos Islands deal represents everything that's wrong with this Labour government: strategic incompetence, fiscal recklessness, and a casual relationship with the truth. Labour hailed its agreement to hand control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as a diplomatic coup. The reality is more woeful.
Thirty-five billion pounds to give away British territory. Ten times more than they told us it would cost. And they're still denying it even when confronted with their own government's figures.
The British people deserve honesty from their government, not lies and cover-ups. The Chagos conundrum has exposed this Labour administration for what it truly is: untrustworthy, incompetent, and unfit to govern.