The PM's reasoning of national security for his Chagos Islands deal has been "blown out of the water" by one of his own - as Chagos Islanders beg to remain under British sovereignty.
Science minister Sir Chris Bryant has seemed to suggest that it was not possible for an international organisation to shut down UK communications in the Indian Ocean - as Starmer's team has previously suggested.
"The ITU cannot challenge the UK’s use of civilian or military spectrum,” Bryant said, responding to a written parliamentary question.
"It is possible that one country could challenge another’s spectrum use, for instance if it should cause harmful interference across borders, and if unresolved bilaterally could seek arbitration through an ITU body."
The PM's reasoning of national security for his Chagos Islands deal has been "blown out of the water" by one of his own ministers
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In the past, Downing Street has insisted that the PM's deal to hand over the islands to Mauritius is necessary to ensure the safety of communications at the US-UK military base.
The concerns that the possibility of a UN court's rejection of British sovereignty would ultimately be cornered into yielding its secure communications by UN organisation International Telecommunication Union.
The move would, in effect, undermine any sensitive communications on the jointly-owned US-UK base.
A spokesman for the PM told journalists last week that "the electromagnetic spectrum at the Diego Garcia base would not be able to continue to operate without a deal".
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Shadow Armed Forces Minister Mark Francois blasted the Government over Bryant's response to the parliamentary question.
He said: "This candid answer, from the telecommunications minister, Sir Chris Bryant, blows the Government’s latest rationale for their benighted Chagos deal clean out of the water.
"If the ITU cannot actually dictate to the UK (or the US) over the use of military spectrum, how can the Government’s claim that this is about protecting military and satellite communications possibly stand? It’s utter nonsense.”
The seemingly apparent contradiction within Starmer's Cabinet has come at the same time as 400 Chagossians gather to beg Britain to not surrender the territory.
The seemingly apparent contradiction within Starmer's Cabinet has come at the same time as 400 Chagossians gather to beg Britain to not surrender the territory (Stock)
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One 70-year-old told The Telegraph that the islanders had "no voice" in the deal.
She said: "I oppose this deal. I am British and the Chagos Islands must remain British."
Last October, Labour settled on an agreement to give up British sovereignty of the strategic territory to Mauritius - a nation which has never exercised control over the archipelago.
As the current deal stands, the Diego Garcia base will be leased back to Britain for the next 99 years - at the price of £9billion.
Previously, speaking at a rally, Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf said: "Everything about this deal is appalling."
Slamming Starmer's lack of an electoral mandate for such a deal, he said: "They have not sought permission, they have not sought a mandate, nor have they sought permission from anyone whose lives are going to be affected by this."
