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HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsLet me just say to the hon. Gentleman, because there is seriousness behind his question, that all of us believe in the right to self-determination. I am unequivocally, absolutely…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI will not take lectures from a party that left a £22 billion black hole and our public services in a state. The chutzpah of the Opposition is unbelievable.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI am grateful to the Chair of the Defence Committee. In relation to the global south, he will have seen that the Government of India welcomed the agreement, and that India…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsMy hon. Friend makes an important point. He knows, as the whole House knows, that it does not matter who is in the White House or who is in No. 10: for generations, the US and the…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsThe right hon. Gentleman will be able to return to these issues when the treaty is before the House. He must wait, as I do, for the Budget of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI urge the right hon. Gentleman to read the remarks of the Chief Minister of the Falkland Islands, and I urge him to consult more widely the defence establishment in this country,…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsThere is seriousness behind my hon. Friend’s question. I reassure him that the Defence Secretary and I have sought to secure a deal that secures the future of the base long after…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsAs I have said, these are issues that we can discuss when we have the treaty. It is not routine for any Government to comment on basing arrangements. The hon. Lady would not…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI think the right hon. Gentleman lost much of the House when he said that the people live there—they do not; that is the whole point. This is a deal that will give them the right…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI thank the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for raising the plight of the Chagossians. The way in which they were treated in the 1960s was wrong and is a matter of immense regret,…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsIt was precisely to put the base on a secure footing, because of that global uncertainty, that this deal was the right deal.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsDid the right hon. Gentleman raise this when he was part of the last Government, and did he make it a resignation issue? No, he did not, because he knows that we inherited this,…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsYes to the hon. Gentleman’s question. We will come forward with plans in due course.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsForeign Secretaries do not comment on such capabilities, but the House will have heard the hon. Gentleman’s remarks.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI reassure my right hon. Friend that we will of course do everything we can, and have done everything we can—including combating illegal fishing—to better secure the environment.…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsThe hon. Gentleman is right to raise these issues. He will be able to scrutinise provisions in that regard in the coming months.07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsAs I have already said, this is not a Chinese ally; it is one of two countries that have not participated in China’s belt and road in the continent of Africa, for a reason. It is…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsWell, I hope that question may have garnered the right hon. Gentleman a few more votes, but if that is his position, he is unlikely to lead the Conservative party to victory. This…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsMy hon. Friend is right to raise this issue. Some would argue that the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of 2019 was only advisory and that the UN General Assembly…07 Oct 2024HANSARDBritish Indian Ocean Territory: NegotiationsI have to say that such a senior Member of the House of Commons should just check his facts a little bit more closely. Mauritius is one of only two countries in Africa that has…07 Oct 2024