Starmer under fire amid row over Chagos deal cost

Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire at PMQs over the cost of the government's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Earlier, the UK said newspaper reports that the effective price tag has jumped from £9bn to £18bn were "entirely inaccurate".

But the reports were nevertheless seized on by the Tory and Reform UK leaders to attack the agreement, which is currently on hold pending a review by the US.

Mauritius has also now denied the £18bn figure, although neither side has specified an alternative amount.

Under the of the deal, the UK will continue to lease one of the islands, Diego Garcia, which contains a UK-US military airbase, for a period of 99 years.

The plan to cede sovereignty of the archipelago, known officially as the British Indian Ocean Territory, was announced last October after a deal was reached with former Mauritian leader Pravind Jugnauth.

But he was swept from power in a general election a month later, and Navin Ramgoolam, his replacement, has criticised the deal negotiated by his predecessor.

The agreement has also been mired in uncertainty after Donald Trump's re-election as US president, given several US Republicans have argued it could deliver a potential security boost to China.

Mauritius says it was ready to sign a deal last month - but the UK asked to press the pause button to allow Trump to examine it first.

The UK government has never confirmed the estimated cost of payments under the deal, but press reports have put the figure at around £9bn.

Speaking in the Mauritian Parliament on Tuesday, Ramgoolam said the UK had agreed to front-load some of the payments following objections from his government over the original of the deal.

He also said the transfers, due to be made in dollars, would now be subject to a variable rather than fixed exchange rate, arguing payments under the previous deal were not "inflation-proof".

"What's the point of getting money and then having half of it at the end":[]}