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Farage ~ Wants Urgent Debate

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is under pressure to call an emergency debate on Monday on Labour's surrender of the Chagos Islands after Nigel Farage complained that the 'damaging capitulation' occurred while MPs were away from Westminster.The Reform UK leader's move comes as diplomatic sources revealed Sir Keir ­Starmer's humiliating handover of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, a close ally of China, had been rushed through before a potential Donald Trump victory in next month's US Presidential election.Trump's allies have complained that the deal represents a strategic coup for Beijing.The move – plans for which were first revealed in The Mail on Sunday last year – have triggered fresh speculation about the future of the Falkland islands and Gibraltar after the Prime Minister refused to guarantee that no other British Overseas Territories would be given away.Argentina's foreign minister Diana Mondino said of the Chagos deal: 'We welcome this step in the right direction and the end to outdated practices. With concrete actions and not empty rhetoric, we will recover full sovereignty of Las Malvinas.'In a letter sent this weekend to Foreign Secretary David Lammy and copied to Sir Lindsay, Mr Farage wrote: 'The strategic importance of the Chagos Islands to our nation and to our most important ally, America, is well known... The future of the Chagos Islands was announced when the House was not sitting, meaning that members of all parties remain in the dark about so many aspects of this decision.https://mol.im/a/13927957

Sue Hammond ● 25d3 Comments

"them joining the Schengen zone"Germany suspended Schengen for six months for probably internal political reasons. The EU that the UK left no longer exists, time and the EU has moved on.Gibraltar airport is a military run airport. Not unusual for commercial aircraft to use military airports. I've taken a flight out of Singapore's second airport which was and probably still is military. Pre-Google days but I couldn't get an answer from a Singaporean as to how long it would take to get to the airport.Whilst the UK locks up journalists for political reasons Spain has actually sort answers about the Assange case. Personally I always found the Spanish police & border staff to be excellent despite it being a hard border, perhaps my fears of the Spanish authoritarianism is no different than that of the UK's.What if the Gibraltarians views shifts more towards Spain as the UK heads towards more authoritarianism?https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/10/the-end-of-schengen-germanys-new-border-controls-put-eu-unity-at-risk

Ed Robinson ● 25d

I guess there's an easy solution to Gibraltar if the Gibraltarians agree. They wanted to remain in the EU and there's been talk of them joining the Schengen zone. Hence, offer them independence with the opportunity to rejoin the EU, provided the UK can retain a military base there? I has a number of friends from Gibraltar at one time, they've now either retired back there or, sadly, died, and for one reason or another I never got around to visiting the rock.

Michael Ixer ● 25d

"The strategic importance of the Chagos Islands to our nation and to our most important ally, America, is well known..."Not by me. Can anyone explain at all?

David Ainsworth ● 25d