Chagossian migrants are moving to Britain en masse over Sir Keir Starmer’s deal to hand their homeland over to Mauritius.
Major airports have seen a “significant” influx of incoming families over recent months, many of whom appear to have rushed through their decision to move to the UK.
One council has warned that dealing with the surge will require financial support from the Government.
Chagossians were granted British citizenship by Sir Tony Blair in 2002, meaning that they have the right to move to live and work in the UK.
Sir Keir was this week accused of betraying the islanders as he signed away the Indian Ocean archipelago after 200 years of British rule. Under the deal, No 10 has handed control of the islands to Mauritius, which has never previously owned them and is 1,500 miles distant.
Britain will then lease back the biggest island, Diego Garcia, which is home to a joint UK-US military base, for 99 years at a cost of £30 billion.
The pact has attracted criticism over both security concerns and the lack of consultation with Chagossians who hope to ultimately move home.
Hillingdon Council, which covers Heathrow, said it had seen a surge in Chagossians arriving since talks on the deal started in October.
It said that some 187 people from the islands arrived in the last quarter of last year, whilst a further 156 have come in since the beginning of this year.
Many are arriving without any plans for employment or housing, suggesting that they have chosen to leave in a hurry over concerns about their future.
The revelations will prove embarrassing for Downing Street and will further add to negative publicity around the deal, which critics say was unnecessary.
Cllr Ian Edwards, the leader of Tory-run Hillingdon, said the influx was so great that it needed more support from the Government to cover its costs.
He said that anecdotal evidence from those arriving was that they had left Mauritius because of “the decision around the transfer” of the Chagos Islands.
“Increasingly we are hearing, and it’s being evidenced, that they don’t wish to become Mauritian citizens so the alternative is come to the UK,” he said.
Chagossians were awarded British citizenship in recognition of the fact that they were forced to leave their homeland in the 1960s to make way for the Diego Garcia military base. Many of those evicted moved to Mauritius, with others going to the Seychelles.
Hillingdon Council said it was “seeing a significant number of families arrive from the Chagos Islands via Heathrow without onward travel plans and seeking housing support”.
Because they are British citizens the council has a duty to provide them with support, but central funding only covers 10 days of housing costs.
Many families are having to be put up in private rented accommodation for six months or more until they have settled, with the council picking up the tab – projected to be £1.2 million a year with further arrivals expected.
It is understood that significant numbers of Chagossians have also been arriving at Manchester and Gatwick airports in recent months.
A government spokesman said: “We work in partnership with local authorities to ensure they are able to support arrivals in their area.
“Government funding is available to support local authorities in circumstances where arrival numbers are creating local pressures that are unmanageable within normal local contingency arrangements.”
While some Chagossians have opposed the handing over of the archipelago others based in Mauritius have supported the agreement.
The Mauritius based Chagos Refugees Group said in response to the deal that “the majority of island-born Chagossians and their descendants” backed it.
Olivier Bancoult, its president, said: “This agreement marks the end of colonial occupation, but it must not herald the start of a new silence.
“Alongside Mauritian sovereignty, there must now be clear guarantees for Chagossian rights – for memory, for justice, and above all, for the future.”
Mauritius passed a law in 2021 which criminalised “misrepresenting the sovereignty of Mauritius over any part of its territory” including Chagos.
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