David Reed

David Reed

Conservative — Exmouth and Exeter East

Speaking in the House of Commons on 25 February 2026

Debate

Diego Garcia and British Indian Ocean Territory

Contribution

I think the vast majority of Members of this House can agree that the arguments for giving away our Chagos islands have been threadbare at best, which leads one to believe that there must be sensitive elements to the deal. It was, then, interesting to read what the former FCDO special adviser Ben Judah wrote: “Once you’ve been briefed, even partially, on what it”— that is, the base on Diego Garcia— “does the information gives you vertigo. Both now, and in government, communicating the details to the public would be violating the Official Secrets Acts.” Given that this deal is going to cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds, does the Minister not believe that it should be incumbent on the Government to declassify some of the information so that we here in Parliament and the British public know what we are paying for?

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