Blake Stephenson is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Mid-Bedfordshire. He is the Shadow Treasury PPS and has worked in the City.
The British Government’s decision to surrender sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is more than a diplomatic misstep. By ceding British territory to an ally of China, and paying £35billion for the privilege, the Government has managed to combine weakness abroad with waste at home.
Beyond the financial and security implications, there is another scandal that has received far too little attention; the risk this deal poses to one of the most significant marine environments on Earth. Not only is it a strategic disaster for our national security, but it is also an environmental disaster waiting to happen.
Last month, I warned my colleagues in Parliament of the potentially disastrous environmental impacts of this surrender deal. The region of the Indian Ocean that hosts the unique and remarkable Chagos Islands is of critical importance for wildlife.
Britain’s stewardship has overseen the archipelago flourish into one of the most remarkable natural sanctuaries on Earth. Over the last 15 years, a 640,000 square kilometre Marine Protected Area (MPA), under the watch of British patrols, has kept the surrounding waters in near pristine condition, creating a biodiversity hotspot.
Coral reefs in the MPA are some of the healthiest in the world. They are a sanctuary for marine life, including endangered species like hawksbill turtles, green turtles and reef sharks. The archipelago is located along hugely significant migratory routes for species of tuna, whales and seabirds. And because the reefs have shown a rare resilience to coral bleaching, they offer scientists critical insights into resilience to climate change and how marine ecosystems may adapt to a warming climate. The Chagos MPA is globally significant and deserves to be protected within this deal.
When questioned by the Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this year, the Minister for the Overseas Territories failed to give any guarantee that the Marine Protected Area would continue under Mauritian control. Instead, the Government asks us to “take it on trust” that Mauritius will uphold existing protections.
Trust, however, is not a safeguard. Nor is a vague “memorandum of understanding,” which the Minister floated as a possible mechanism for cooperation. A simple change of government in Mauritius, or a shift in political mood, could open the door to commercial exploitation. The Mauritian Fisheries Minister has already spoken of issuing new fishing and trawler licences.
The Government and their negotiating weakness, or perhaps simply a desire to overlook the looming environmental catastrophe, has chosen to heedlessly push the surrender deal through Parliament, rather than working to ensure that protections for wildlife and the marine environment are watertight.
Without effective safeguards or influence over the MPA, Britain will be powerless to prevent a change of policy from the Mauritian government. There will be nothing we can do to stop Chinese trawlers from turning up and decimating the marine environment. Given China’s record of plundering the high seas, notably the devastation wrought in the South Atlantic, this is far from a baseless concern. Once destroyed, the pristine Chagos ecosystem cannot be rebuilt.
This is why, speaking in the Commons in October, I called for and supported two new practical safeguards. One that would ensure that any future agreements regarding the MPA must be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny, in the same way a treaty is. The other would ensure ongoing accountability for the MPA by requiring regular public reports on the ecological condition of the area. Neither of these were radical, they are common sense proposals. However, Ministers with their heads buried in the sand chose to ignore them.
The Government has been delivered another route out of this situation. Lord Callanan, Conservative foreign affairs spokesman in the Lords, tabled an amendment that would force the Government to consult Chagossian people, who have been betrayed and ignored, before going ahead. Ministers, concerned about high support for the amendment, put the legislative process to ratify the treaty on hold. The Prime Minister has an opportunity to seize this opportunity and scrap the whole deal entirely.
Abandoning it would please many and upset few. Many are angry that the cost of this deal is diverting public money away from our public services. In the first year, the money paid to Mauritius could deliver a new GP surgery in 30 local communities. The only candidates for upset are the Prime Minister, embarrassed to hand victory to Conservatives, Lord Hermer and fellow international lawyers who champion the deal whatever the implications for our communities, our security, and environmental protections.
The Chagos Marine Protected Area is unique and remarkable, one of the only remaining untouched ecosystems. To abandon it, without ensuring enforceable safeguards for protection, risks the loss of a sanctuary that belongs not only to Britain, but to the planet.
The Government has made it clear that it does not have the appetite to defend protections, so Parliament, and the public, must. Once this pristine ecosystem is exposed to exploitation, no amount of money or diplomatic regret will bring it back.
