(Romford) (Con): I totally
understand and accept the points that the hon. Gentleman is making
about the Chagos Islands and Mauritius, but will the Chagossians be
consulted on whose sovereignty they wish to fall under? As we have
that policy with all our overseas territories, such as Gibraltar
and the Falklandswhich have had a referendum,
surely the Chagossians should be the people who should determine
their destiny of their own homeland.
(Glasgow North) (SNP): As
the hon. Gentleman well knows, I am a huge fan of popular
sovereignty and very committed to the concept of
self-determination. But I do not want to make light of his
comment; he is absolutely right. The point that I am trying to
make is in the context of how the UK Government respect the
rules-based order and the decisions coming from multilateral
institutions that they claim to want to take part in and respect.
Absolutely—the Chagossian community themselves should be at the
heart of the decision-making process about their future and the
future of their islands. I look forward to hearing from the
Minister on that. It is probably not the last he is going to hear
of it, if it falls within his wider ministerial remit...
(Romford) (Con): May I
first say what a real pleasure it has been to be part of this
debate today and to hear the maiden speech of my hon. Friend the
Member for Bracknell ()? How welcome he is
to this House, and how delighted we are that he is now the
new—Conservative—MP for Bracknell. I thank him for his gallant
service to Queen and country—particularly, of course, in the
Falklands—and welcome him as one of the new
vice-chairmen of the all-party parliamentary group on the
Falkland Islands. I commend him for his maiden
speech today...
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs ():...My hon. Friend the
Member for Bracknell () was introduced
incorrectly, I think, as a new Member of Parliament, so competent
and lucid was he. However, I will never ever be able to listen to
the phrase “blue rosette on a donkey” or “blue rosette on a
monkey” without hearing the example from Bracknell of a blue
rosette on a dog turd. I do not thank my hon. Friend for that
analogy. I think he is a very modest man—we heard later in an
intervention of his service in the Falkland
Islands—and a very sensible man from the Logistics Corps
who praised in advance the logistics of this House, which serve
us all incredibly well...
To read the whole debate, CLICK
HERE
