Key facts
- Burnham said the UK is in discussion with US friends to see how it might recast the arrangement.
- The original treaty would have paid Mauritius £165m for three years and £120m a year from the fourth year.
- Streeting said the deal as constituted cannot go ahead without American support.
- Burnham said Putin would be barred from the G20 summit in Manchester because of an outstanding sanction.
- Burnham said his 10-year plan could be delayed until December or January.
Andy Burnham 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 modeled 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, struck by former prime minister Keir Starmer, would have given sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius. It has been in limbo since Donald Trump made clear he opposed it. Burnham said: "We are in discussion with our US friends to see how we might recast the arrangement that better meets their concerns." He added that the UK was looking at the Greenland deal to see if there was a solution that works in relation to Diego Garcia, and that the work was challenging.
Starmer's government signed a treaty to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius while keeping control of the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease. Under the agreement, Mauritius would have received £165m for three years and £120m a year from the fourth year. Trump said in September after a bilateral meeting with Burnham in New York: "I don't support it – I think it's a terrible deal."
Defence secretary Wes Streeting has since said the British government had suspended payments to Mauritius while the UK and US worked on a compromise. He told the BBC the deal as currently constituted cannot go ahead without American support.
While Trump was expressing his unhappiness at the Chagos deal, he was striking an agreement with Denmark over Greenland. Under that agreement Greenland will remain a Danish territory, but the US will be allowed to develop a significant military presence there, while its adversaries will be banned from building their own bases on the island.
Burnham was speaking on his return from Antigua, where he attended the Commonwealth heads of government summit. He said the government had helped move the reparations issue on by opening up the possibility of a government apology. He also said he would host the G20 in Manchester next year, that Vladimir Putin would be barred because of an outstanding sanction, and that Xi Jinping would be welcome. Burnham said his 10-year plan could be delayed until December or January.