Britain's government insisted Thursday that it must hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius to secure continued access to satellite communications at a key US-UK military base.The Labour administration is facing domestic political criticism for announcing in October that it would return the isles to Britain's former colony and pay to lease the facility on Diego Garcia,

A satellite communications system used by the US and UK to run military operations is central to efforts by Britain to resolve the sovereignty of the Chagos islands, UK security officials familiar with the matter said.

The UK government has denied claims made by the prime minister of Mauritius that it faces paying billions more under a renegotiated deal over the future of the Chagos Islands.

If Britain wants to remain a reliable partner in our security alliance, it must be willing to defend its sovereignty. As much as President Trump uses unpredictability as a diplomatic tool, I can predict one thing for sure: there is no way he will allow Britain to give up its sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.

Mauritius has indicated that it has secured more concessions from the United Kingdom in the Chagos Islands deal, raising the lease payments for the Diego Garcia military base

Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire at PMQs over the cost of the government's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Earlier, the UK said newspaper reports that the effective price tag has jumped from £9bn to £18bn were "entirely inaccurate".

The UK government said it wouldn’t provide any details on a proposed multibillion-pound deal to continue operating a military base in the Chagos archipelago once it cedes control of the islands until it’s finalized,

Sir Keir Starmer clashed with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch over the deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.