Will Burnham back down on Labour's Chagos surrender? PM looking to 'recast' deal to hand over islands - as he vows to 'make progress' this year

Published: 08:41 EDT, 5 November 2026 | Updated: 08:44 EDT, 5 November 2026 Andy Burnham has suggested he could back down on Labour's surrender of the Chagos Islands by saying he wants to 'recast the arrangement'.The Prime Minister is working on a 'shared plan' with the US and Mauritius over the vital archipelago and is intending to make 'further progress' by the end of this year.Under an agreement struck by Mr Burnham's predecessor, Keir Starmer, Britain is set to hand the Chagos Islands - officially known as the British Indian Ocean Territory - to Mauritius.The Government would then pay to lease back the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands, for 99 years.Labour's so-called 'surrender deal' to cede sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius is currently in limbo following the withdrawal of American support for the agreement. US President Donald Trump switched his position on the UK's handover amid a furious spat with Sir Keir earlier this year over the Iran war. Andy Burnham has suggested he could back down on Labour's surrender of the Chagos Islands by saying he wants to 'recast the arrangement'. Under the terms of Labour's deal with Mauritius, Britain would hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and then pay to lease back the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia In his first meeting with Mr Trump in September, Mr Burnham was forced to sit and watch as the US President issued another blast at Labour's 'ridiculous' deal.Now, in an interview with The Economist, Mr Burnham has signalled he is rethinking whether to give up British sovereignty over the archipelago.His Government will 'recast the arrangement', he said, while citing the deal between Denmark and the US over Greenland as a possible precedent.The agreement between Copenhagen and Washington, signed in September, expands America's military presence in Greenland - an autonomous territory of Denmark.It followed a diplomatic crisis in which Mr Trump had piled pressure on Greenland to become part of the US, and initially refused to rule out the use of force to achieve his aim.The PM spoke to the magazine while travelling to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua.While at the summit this week, Mr Burnham met with a number of other world leaders - including Mauritius PM Navin Ramgoolam.A Downing Street spokesperson said: 'During the discussion, the PM underlined his commitment to working with Mauritius and the US on a way forward that secured the operation of the Diego Garcia base and protected national security for all three countries.'They agreed to work on a shared plan to make further progress by the end of the year.' The deal signed by Sir Keir would see Britain pay an average of £101million a year to Mauritius over the 99-year lease of Diego Garcia, totalling about £3.4billion according to the Government's figures.But critics have said the real cost would actually amount to £35billion and warned about handing control of Chagos Islands to Mauritius, which is seen as an ally of China.