Burnham wants to ‘recast’ Chagos Islands deal after US resistance

UK PM says he wants ‘a new discussion’ with Washington over the disputed islands

Andy Burnham has said he wants to “recast” the UK’s deal to cede control of the Chagos Islands after resistance from Washington, which said the agreement could instead be modelled on America’s Greenland deal with Denmark.

The prime minister told the Economist he wanted “a new discussion” with the US over the disputed islands, which are home to the Diego Garcia military base.

The original deal, which was struck by the former prime minister Keir Starmer and would have given sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, has been in limbo since Donald Trump made clear he opposed it.