Member

The extraordinary thing about this is that not a single reference was made in another place to the way in which the Bill violates the Labour manifesto. This is perhaps not surprising given that it was afforded only a few hours in Committee, Report was not bothered with and Third Reading was dispatched in less than an hour. It was all done the same day; if you had blinked, you would probably have missed it. In this context, far from it being a done deal, your Lordships’ House not only has the power to reject this Bill and thereby prevent treaty ratification, but a duty to do so, out of respect for self-determination and, indeed, the Labour Party manifesto. The best outcome would be that the UK Government and the Republic of Mauritius would then recognise that this is not a treaty to ratify, and that they must seek an alternative solution that makes provision for self-determination for the people of the Chagos Islands.