Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office written question – answered at on 3 November 2025.
Priti Patel
Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has had discussions with the Government of Mauritius on the potential presence of third countries in the Chagos Archipelago following the transfer of sovereignty under the terms of UK-Mauritius Treaty.
Stephen Doughty
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The treaty contains robust provisions to protect the base, including a 24 nautical mile buffer zone around Diego Garcia and a ban on foreign security forces anywhere in the archipelago. Any suggestions that Mauritius has been negotiating a lease on Peros Banhos are false. This was confirmed by the Mauritian Attorney General in a public statement on 20 October 2025.
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Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Attorney General, assisted by the Solicitor General, is the chief legal adviser to the Government. The Attorney General also has certain public interest functions, for example, in taking action to protect charities.
The Attorney General has overall responsibility for The Treasury Solicitor's Department, superintends the Director of Public Prosecutions as head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland. The Law Officers answer for these Departments in Parliament.
The Attorney General and the Solicitor General also deal with questions of law arising on Government Bills and with issues of legal policy. They are concerned with all major international and domestic litigation involving the Government and questions of European Community and International Law as they may affect Her Majesty's Government.
see also, http://www.lslo.gov.uk/
