The Labour Government

MillionMilesAway said:
I'm not sure what she can come back with.
If she asks for the briefing, it'll be unthinkable for her to then give the details publically.
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The argument was that the islands have no importance to the UK. If they have no importance then there won't be anything to share surely?

She's allowed to say that Starmer made it up, and there was no secret reason.
 
bluenova said:
Because you know everything that's involved in the deal, and why both Governments were very keen to do something about it?

Ultimately we know virtually nothing about how likely it was the we'd lose access to the islands, what the benefit of keeping the lease is, what security issues are involved, what arrangement we have with the US etc., etc.

If you're someone senior in the MoD, on the Privy Council, a Cabinet minister, or a senior FCDO official, then I'll accept you have enough knowledge of what the actual deal is, and what the stakes involved are.

If you're not, then you know as much as I do - and that's not enough to actual know whether it's a stitch up or a great deal.
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What do you mean we'd lose access to it? Mauritius were hardly gonna go to war against us or the US, and even with all our military cutbacks, I'd still fancy our chances against them!

I don't work in the MoD no but I know that having sovereignty over an island means we don't have to pay another country billions of pounds for a lease.
 
bluenova said:
The argument was that the islands have no importance to the UK. If they have no importance then there won't be anything to share surely?

She's allowed to say that Starmer made it up, and there was no secret reason.
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Depends what it says, I don't know what might be involved.
It would be extraordinary if Starmer didn't have good reason for what he said.

I don't why this suddenly re-awoke as a talking point.
 
Churchlawtonblue said:
Why don't they disclose how much it is then? The reason being it's close to 19billion. If it wasn't they would say for sure.

They should disclose anyway as its our money they are wasting not theirs. I loathe how governments behave secretly like this with our money.

100 years because no-one is alive from then chances are. That was your excuse for giving them taxpayers money, some that were moved on are still alive.

Ok That's fine work out how many are still alive then give them a couple of million each. They will all be happy I can guarantee that.

Oh no I hear you bleat the UK must be bent over and rogered silly to the tune of Billions lol.
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So our goverment say it's nowhere near £18 billion the Mauritian government also say it's nowhere near £18bn but the proven liars called the tory party say it is £18 billion. I think I know which group to believe.
 
KDB Fan said:
What do you mean we'd lose access to it? Mauritius were hardly gonna go to war against us or the US, and even with all our military cutbacks, I'd still fancy our chances against them!

I don't work in the MoD no but I know that having sovereignty over an island means we don't have to pay another country billions of pounds for a lease.
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Isn't the argument that the UK and US didn't want to be there only because Mauritius are scared of them?

Arguably Trump might not care, but it's a hell of a lot nearer to China and India than the US. China and the US are already arguing over various islands across the world, and we can only assume that it makes sense to someone to box this argument off for the next few decades.
 
bluenova said:
Isn't the argument that the UK and US didn't want to be there only because Mauritius are scared of them?

Arguably Trump might not care, but it's a hell of a lot nearer to China and India than the US. China and the US are already arguing over various islands across the world, and we can only assume that it makes sense to someone to box this argument off for the next few decades.
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Don't quite follow your reasoning there mate or who Mauritius are scared of?
 
stonerblue said:
'Fan club', 'tantrums' ??

As for your question, i dont know anything about the 'value' of the Islands, internationally, militarily or diplomatically.
What's 19billion divided by 99?
Looking at VFM i'd prefer the the 11billion a year nuclear defence budget to be spent on the poor and needy.
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Fair enough. I'd rather keep the nuclear deterrent but not give Mauritius billions of pounds for our own territory when they already take millions off us in foreign aid. Spend those billions on the NHS and maybe build some of the hospitals that Streeting cancelled a couple of weeks ago or, should I say, 'delayed' for 14 years for another government to decide on.

That would be a good way of helping the poor and the needy.
 
KDB Fan said:
Don't quite follow your reasoning there mate or who Mauritius are scared of?
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You were suggesting we could win if Mauritius tried to take the islands by force, which clearly they wouldn't do on their own (i.e. they'd be scared to as it would be madness).

I'm suggesting that if the base is important to the US and UK, then we would probably rather spend a bit of money (and we don't know what the quid pro quo is for us with the US, but there's likely to be something), and not just be able to keep the base because Mauritius aren't going to try and take it by force.

There are surely benefits of not having to deal with further legal challenges, or for it to be brought up when we're trying to encourage or negotiate with other countries.
 
bluenova said:
The argument was that the islands have no importance to the UK. If they have no importance then there won't be anything to share surely?

She's allowed to say that Starmer made it up, and there was no secret reason.
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The island is ideally located being only a few degrees from the equator and forms part of the GEODSS (Ground-Based Electro Optical Deep Space Surveillance) network.

Anything bigger than a tennis ball in space can be tracked, including spy satellites, micro satellites etc. Its one of the tools which is used to determine if its space junk re-entering the earths atmosphere or a ballistic missile.

There are other uses but I will leave that to your imagination.
 
www.bbc.co.uk

Labour readmits four MPs suspended for rebelling

But three other MPs - John McDonnell, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana - remain suspended.
www.bbc.co.uk


Three others who rebelled in July's vote - former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana - remain suspended.

All seven MPs are on the left of the party but the three who have not had their suspension lifted have continued to be critical of the government over the past six months.
Writing on X, Sultana said she had only found out the news from a media report.

The MP for Coventry South added: "Turns out speaking up for Palestine is still a punishable offence."

…

Some MPs on the right of the Labour Party had been pushing for McDonnell in particular not to have the whip restored.

In part, this was related to the recent Palestinian demonstration where one MP told the BBC his behaviour there should "be a material factor" in deciding whether he could re-join the fold.

But, for some on the right, the political prize would be to see McDonnell joining Corbyn's group of independent MPs, publicly severing the cord between the current and previous leaderships of the party.

The clear message to voters would be that there will never be a return to the Corbyn era, they believe.
 
KDB Fan said:
The Tories didn't sign any deal but if they had have done on the terms that Labour are reportedly about to, I'd describe it equally as a massive stitch-up of the British people. Which is what this is.
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For some reason that last line registered in my brain as "a massive stitch-up of the British empire".
 
KDB Fan said:
Fair enough. I'd rather keep the nuclear deterrent but not give Mauritius billions of pounds for our own territory when they already take millions off us in foreign aid. Spend those billions on the NHS and maybe build some of the hospitals that Streeting cancelled a couple of weeks ago or, should I say, 'delayed' for 14 years for another government to decide on.

That would be a good way of helping the poor and the needy.
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Streeting didn't cancel any hospitals. He just made it plain that the Tories had never allocated any money for them.
 
Vic said:
Streeting didn't cancel any hospitals. He just made it plain that the Tories had never allocated any money for them.
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It’s like a walking misinformation board.

Just had about 10 pages on the Chagos Island based on misinformation. Seems like Bluemoon has turned into a less informed version of Twitter.
 
Vic said:
Streeting didn't cancel any hospitals. He just made it plain that the Tories had never allocated any money for them.
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If only we could find some money somewhere to build them hospitals. 40 new hospitals at a reported original cost of £20B or (up to) £18B to satisfy an advisory opinion from an international court that almost everyone ignores.

I know which I'd rather spend the money on.
 
KDB Fan said:
If only we could find some money somewhere to build them hospitals. 40 new hospitals at a reported original cost of £20B or (up to) £18B to satisfy an advisory opinion from an international court that almost everyone ignores.

I know which I'd rather spend the money on.
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Do you actually think we can build brand new hospitals at a cost of £500 million a piece? If you do I've got some magic beans you might want to buy.

Birmingham metropolitan Hospital came in at over £1 Billion, three times it's original budget.
 
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