Member

We are told that this must be done because it stabilises the territory, removes uncertainty and doubt, and reassures our allies. It will not remove uncertainty. A dispute—a rather monetary one, let us be honest—with a country that had very little emotional attachment to this archipelago will be replaced by a new dispute with people who do feel attached to it, who refuse to recognise Mauritian sovereignty, and who will urge this country to take up its ancestral responsibilities and press their claim on their behalf. I hope that a future Government will act on that, since this one obviously will not. Either way, let us not pretend that the issue will be quelled simply by the stroke of a pen. You cannot efface people’s sense of nationality and belonging by bureaucratic fiat. I beg to move.