If Britain wants to remain a reliable partner in our security alliance, it must be willing to defend its sovereignty. As much as President Trump uses unpredictability as a diplomatic tool, I can predict one thing for sure: there is no way he will allow Britain to give up its sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.

A British minister denied on Wednesday media reports that the government could end up paying billions of pounds more to Mauritius under a renegotiated deal to retain a U.S.-British military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

Mauritius has indicated that it has secured more concessions from the United Kingdom in the Chagos Islands deal, raising the lease payments for the Diego Garcia military base

Prime Minister reportedly discusses future of Diego Garcia military base during ‘cordial’ call with Mauritian leader

Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire at PMQs over the cost of the government's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Earlier, the UK said newspaper reports that the effective price tag has jumped from £9bn to £18bn were "entirely inaccurate".

Britain's government insisted Thursday that it must hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius to secure continued access to satellite communications at a key US-UK military base.

Tory shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said the Chagos Islands deal was ‘one of the worst foreign policy failures in modern British history’.

The UK government has denied claims made by the prime minister of Mauritius that it faces paying billions more under a renegotiated deal over the future of the Chagos Islands. Last October, the UK announced it would hand over sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius but would maintain a 99-year lease over the UK-US military airbase on the largest island,