The UK has signed a £3.4bn ($4.6bn) deal to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, while retaining control of a UK-US military base on Diego Garcia - the largest of the islands. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says the 99-year agreement to lease back Diego Garcia will cost the UK £101m a year,

UK signs deal to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius while retaining joint US-UK control of Diego Garcia for £101 million annually.

Britain’s government has been temporarily blocked from concluding its deal to transfer the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, PA Media reported, after an 11th-hour injunction by a High Court judge.

Britain signed a multi-billion dollar deal on the future of the Chagos Islands with Mauritius after a last-gasp injunction was overturned, securing itself a lease for the U.S.-UK Diego Garcia air base for the next century.

Mauritius and Russia have agreed to strengthen ties, amid fears that the UK was too hasty in deciding to hand over the Chagos Islands.

The government has put the much-contested Chagos islands deal ‘on hold’ after outcry from Labour backbenchers. The deal would see sovereignty over the Chagos islands returned to Mauritius, but with the UK and US paying to continue military operations on the islands.