Labour's impending deal to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has been met with a fresh legal challenge just days after top Tory peers announced they would be taking the Government to the High Court.
Two British women born on Diego Garcia - home to a joint UK-US military base - are vowing to take the Foreign Office to court over the "unlawful" handover - branded a "surrender" by critics including Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick.
Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe say the islands should remain British, and both want the right to return to live where they were born, The Telegraph reports.
The native Chagossians were forced to leave the Indian Ocean territory by 1973 to make way for the base - and their plight has become a lightning rod for critics of Labour's controversial handover.
The Chagossians' plight has become a lightning rod for critics of Labour's controversial handover
PA
Dugasse and Pompe's lawyers have sent a pre-action letter to David Lammy's department, which warns that the Chagossian people have unlawfully not been given a say in the deal.
Pompe said: "Chagossians were removed from their place of birth, without their consultation, and have been treated badly for 60 years.
"Since then we have been struggling to understand why we have been treated so poorly by the British government. Our human rights have been stripped away.
"Today the British Government is repeating the same mistakes which it made 60 years ago.
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"The British Government is repeating the same mistakes which it made 60 years ago," Bertrice Pompe said
REUTERS"All our suffering and cries to be heard have been falling on deaf ears... I want to stay British and I also want the right to return to the Chagos Islands."
Barrister Michael Polak, representing the pair, added: "The Government's attempt to give away the Chagossians' homeland whilst failing to hold a formal consultation with the Chagossian people is a continuation of their terrible treatment by the authorities in the past."
A spokesman for the Foreign Office - which is set to issue a response to the letter by March 25, said: "We do not comment on potential legal challenges.
"The negotiations were between the UK and Mauritius with our priority being to secure the full operation of the base on Diego Garcia.
"However, we have worked to ensure this agreement reflects the importance of the islands to Chagossians."
David Lammy's Foreign Office has said that the security of the Diego Garcia base is its priority - but added that it "worked to ensure this agreement reflects the importance of the islands to Chagossians"
PAThe row comes a week after a group of Conservative campaigners issued a pre-action legal letter against the Foreign Office to kickstart a judicial review of the deal, which could culminate in the decision being thrown out altogether.
Spearheading that campaign is former special adviser to Boris Johnson Lord Kempsell, former Cabinet minister Lord Lilley, and historian Lord Roberts of Belgravia.
Together, they have declared that the Government is acting unlawfully in its attempt to hand over British territory to foreign power when ministers lack the prerogative to do so.
Lord Kempsell said: "The loss of British sovereign territory and the complete erasure of the Chagossians from the debate requires action, not words... That is why I am launching this judicial review working jointly with many others who are outraged by this scandal."
