Lammy unequivocal in Commons: ‘Sovereignty of Gibraltar and Falklands is not up for negotiation’

The sovereignty of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands “is not up for negotiation”, Foreign Secretary David Lammy told the House of Commons on Monday, as he faced questions on the UK’s decision to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Mauritius will assume sovereignty over the Indian Ocean archipelago while the joint US-UK military base remains on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands, in a deal that was welcomed by the US and which the UK Government said ensures the status of the base will be undisputed and legally secure.

But the announcement drew criticism from Conservative MPs who said it weakened the UK’s strategic interests and should concern other overseas territories, in particular Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands given Spanish and Argentine sovereignty aspirations.

On Monday, the Foreign Secretary sought to shut down those concerns.

“I want to reassure the House and all members of the UK family worldwide that this agreement does not signal any change in policy to Britain's other overseas territories,” Mr Lammy said.

“British sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the sovereign base areas is not up for negotiation.”

“The situations are not comparable.”

Mr Lammy noted that Chief Minister Fabian Picardo had “vocally supported” the agreement and stated there was “no read across” on the issue of sovereignty.

He noted too that Alison Blake, the Governor of the Falklands, had confirmed that the historical context of the Chagos agreement was “very different” to other overseas territories.

“The Government remains firmly committed to modern partnerships with our overseas territories based on mutual consent,” Mr Lammy added.

Mr Lammy, who had made a statement to Parliament on the Chagos agreement, faced a battery of questions from MPs critical of the deal and its potential implications.

Conservative shadow Foreign Secretary Andrew Mitchell asked what steps Mr Lammy and the UK Government had taken “to reassure the people of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands that this ill-advised decision will have no effect on their sovereignty?”

Mr Mitchell also said: “By this statement today, the Government gives succour to our enemies in a dangerous world, and undermines the strategic web of Britain’s defence interests. Mr Speaker, our country is the poorer and the less for it.”

Conservative MP Tom Tugenhadt, a contender for the party’s leadership, was blunter and said the Chagos agreement “violated” the UK’s commitment to self-determination “by undermining the rights of Chagossian people in favour of a claim that was abandoned in 1965”.

“He sold out the sovereignty of the British people,” Mr Tugendhat said.

For the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, the Chagos agreement was “a dirty, dangerous and desperate deal”.

On several occasions throughout the exchanges, Mr Lammy said he regretted how, against the backdrop of the Conservative leadership contest, Tory MPs had “sought to make partisan points with something so important”.

It was, he said, “wholly, wholly irresponsible”, a position that was echoed by Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrat spokesman on foreign affairs.

“There is no equivalence between the Chagos Islands and other British overseas territories,” Mr Miller said.

“We must be absolutely clear about that.”

“And I hope the Foreign Secretary will affirm that for some Conservative members to entertain the idea that Gibraltar or the Falkland Islands are in some sense at risk is to play into the hands of those who do not share Britain's interests.”

“We in this House must speak with one voice when it comes to Britain's sovereign overseas territories.”

Time and again, the Foreign Secretary said the context of the Chagos agreement was “entirely different” to other overseas territories and that “self-determination is the key word” in UK Government policy on Gibraltar and the Falklands.

Mr Lammy was asked by Amanda Martin, the Labour MP who chairs the Gibraltar all-party group in the Commons, to give a categorical assurance that the Chagos agreement did not signal a change in the UK’s position on the sovereignty of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.

“We unequivocally support the right of both the Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands to self-determination,” Mr Lammy replied.

“And I was very pleased to see the Chief Minister [of Gibraltar] come out categorically and put down some of the false statements that were being made last week.”

Over the weekend, Mr Picardo took to social media after sections of the UK press accused Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer of ducking a question on the Chagos deal and any potential impact it could have on Gibraltar and the Falklands.

Sir Keir had defended giving up UK control of the Chagos Islands and said the agreement with Mauritius over the remote archipelago would secure the long-term future of the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.

But asked to guarantee that no other British overseas territories would be signed away, the Prime Minister avoided a direct answer and instead replied: “The single most important thing was ensuring that we had a secure base, the joint US-UK base; hugely important to the US, hugely important to us.”

“We’ve now secured that and that is why you saw such warm words from the US yesterday.”

That response fuelled furious criticism in some sections of UK media and speculation about the future of Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands, prompting Europe Minister Stephen Doughty to tweet that sovereignty of other overseas territories was not up for negotiation.

On Saturday, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo also posted on X in a bid to quell the speculation, sharing a letter sent to the people of Gibraltar by Sir Keir on National Day.

In that letter, Sir Keir wrote: “You have my assurances that this Government will never compromise on Gibraltar’s sovereignty.”
Sir Keir said the UK Government would “continue to honour and defend” the UK/Gibraltar relationship as enshrined in the Constitution, which includes a commitment on sovereignty.

And he added: “We will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another State against their freely and democratically expressed wishes, nor into a process of sovereignty negotiations with which Gibraltar is not content.”

In his post on X, Mr Picardo said the reports in the UK media raising questions about the future of Gibraltar and other overseas territories “are wrong”.

“The Prime Minister has explicitly ruled out any transfer of the sovereignty of Gibraltar,” Mr Picardo said.

“He has done so in writing [and] I shared that with everyone on the Rock on National Day, three weeks ago.”

“Here is his incontrovertible, written commitment.”

“We have his explicit commitment that the Labour Government will never compromise on Gibraltar's sovereignty and commitment to the double lock.”

“The Foreign Secretary and the Minister for Europe have repeated those commitments.”

“There is no issue here and no room to make one up to sell newspapers or unfairly tarnish an opponent.”