Burnham seeks to ‘recast’ Chagos deal and may delay ten-year plan
Andy Burnham says Britain is talking to Washington about how to “recast” the Chagos Islands agreement “that better meets their concerns”, pointing to America’s Greenland deal with Denmark as a possible model for Diego Garcia, after President Trump called the arrangement “a terrible deal”. In the same interview with The Economist he said his promised ten-year plan for Britain “may go into the new year … December or January”, and confirmed Vladimir Putin will not be invited to the Manchester G20.
The deal negotiated under Sir Keir Starmer would hand sovereignty to Mauritius with a 99-year lease on the Diego Garcia base, at £165m a year for three years and £120m a year thereafter; payments to Mauritius have been suspended. “We’re working hard on it, but it is challenging,” Mr Burnham said. Under the Greenland precedent, the territory stays Danish while the United States is allowed a significant military presence and adversaries are barred from building bases. The ten-year plan, promised on his first day in Downing Street “later this year”, will set out public control over key parts of the economy; he called it “substantial” and “compelling because I am weaving the different threads together”. On the G20 in November 2027 he said Mr Putin “will not be coming because of an outstanding sanction”, while Xi Jinping, who visited Manchester in 2015, “will see a big difference”; he wants the summit to pursue global agreements on AI, which “feels challenging”. The Chagos and plan details rest on the Guardian’s account of the interview; the BBC reports the Putin line from the same exchange.