The future of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands as British Overseas Territories appeared on the brink last week following the government’s decision to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
The decision to relinquish the sovereignty over the archipelago following a decades-long dispute, and allows the US and UK to maintain under their jurisdiction on the military base located on the Diego Garcia atoll for at least 99 years.
The deal sparked questions over the government’s desire to maintain British sovereignty on other overseas territories – particularly Gibraltar, claimed by Spain, and the Falkland Islands, claimed by Argentina.
On Monday, days after news of the Chagos Islands deal first emerged, Sir Keir Starmer‘s official spokesman said the government had no intention to open talks on Gibraltar and the Falklands’ future in the hands of other countries.
He said: “There is no question about British sovereignty of those two, it is not up for negotiation.” Chagos, he added, is a “unique situation with a unique history”, which has “no bearing on other territories”.
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Last week, in the aftermath of the announcement on Chagos, Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said London’s decision on that territory had “no possible read across” to the Rock, as the situations are “completely different”.
Mr Picardo also told The Olive Press: “Gibraltar is an inhabited territory, the population of which has rights which cannot be ignored in any circumstances and which entirely trump any other purported claims to our land and surrounding seas.”
The Chief Minister of Gibraltar added the UK “made clear that it will not enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes“.
More than two decades ago, residents in Gibraltar overwhelmingly let known their desire to remain a British Overseas Territory and rejected the idea of Britain sharing the Rock’s sovereignty with Spain.
Gibraltar became British in 1713 when it was ceded to London in the Treaty of Utrecht.
Similarly, the people living in the Falkland Islands clearly showed their desire to remain British in 2013, when a referendum saw nearly all voters saying they wanted to remain a UK territory.
Falkland Islands governor Alison Blake tried last week to quash islanders’ concerns linked to the Chagos development, as she said in a letter that Britain’s government’s commitment to the UK sovereignty was “unwavering” and “remains undiminished”.
She also wrote: “I would like to reassure you that the legal and historical contexts of the Chagos Archipelago and the Falkland Islands are very different.”
Now Express.co.uk is asking its readers how they would feel if the Labour government were to give up the Rock in a deal with Spain similar to the one involving the Chagos Islands and Mauritius.