This was a lords amendment on the Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill. The bill puts a 2025 UK–Mauritius agreement about the Chagos Archipelago into law and makes related changes to BIOT governance and nationality rules. It has prompted extensive Lords amendments focused on safeguards for Chagossians, sovereignty matters, environmental protections, and parliamentary oversight, which the Commons has largely resisted; the bill is now being considered in the Lords to resolve those differences.
•Implements the UK–Mauritius treaty on Diego Garcia and the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), including potential changes to BIOT’s constitutional status and nationality rules for people connected with BIOT.
•Lords amendments seek wide safeguards: recognise Chagossian rights (including potential return and a referendum on sovereignty), require negotiations with Mauritius on resettlement and asylum, and establish robust governance and reporting (including a Joint UK–Mauritius Parliamentary Commission and an inter-parliamentary committee).
•Provides for cost transparency and financial accountability, including parliamentary scrutiny of treaty payments to Mauritius and mechanisms to delay or condition parts of the Act pending environmental protections and other safeguards.
•Introduces procedural controls on Orders made under the Act (notably Clause 6), including a push for negative resolution scrutiny, and contemplates additional safeguards such as independent reporting on environmental and legal risks before provisions take effect.
