Member

Amendment 87 also relates to Annex 1(2) of the treaty. It would require the Secretary of State to make explicit before Sections 2 to 4 of the Bill come into force that this obligation to “expeditiously inform” Mauritius in the treaty does not extend to action taken by the UK to defend the base—in other words, to disable hostile aircraft, drones, ships or other devices which present a threat to the base. This is particularly relevant given the evolving threat presented by drones. We have only to look at the actions by the Houthis in the Red Sea and their use of drones to target western ships to see what future threats to the base might look like. To adequately protect the base, the United Kingdom needs to be able to disable any such threats in any way possible. If they had been launched by a third state and we shot them down, would this be considered an armed attack on a third state? Again, I would be grateful for a clarification.