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BRITAIN’S Chagos Islands handover will cost taxpayers ten times more than Sir Keir Starmer let on, newly unearthed figures claim.
Official estimates reveal the bill for giving the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius is not £3.4billion as promised, but actually close to £35billion.
The figure, which was released to the Conservative Party under Freedom of Information laws, is far higher than the £3.4 billion figure the Prime Minister had previously stated in public, according to The Telegraph.
Ministers are now facing allegations that they misled Parliament with a controversial “accountancy trick” to hide the size of the bill from taxpayers.
Britain is to hand over sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory while paying billions of pounds to continue using the Diego Garcia base, a key military facility used by Britain and the United States.
Negotiations for a deal to hand over sovereignty of the island began under the Conservatives and was concluded by the new Labour government.
Back in February, Sir Keir Starmer dismissed Tory warnings of a £30billion cost and branded a £9bn to £18bn estimate “absolutely wide of the mark”.
But an official document produced by the Government Actuary’s Department shows the cost of the deal was first estimated at ten times the stated figure, at £34.7 billion, in nominal terms.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said: “Add that to their £50bn black hole, and it’s clear – when Labour negotiates, Britain loses.”
A government spokesman said: “The deal is supported by our closest allies, including the US, Canada, Australia and Nato.
“The costs compare favourably with other international base agreements, and the UK-US base on Diego Garcia is larger, in a more strategic location.”
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