Former Mayor of Middlesbrough, Andy Preston, has said the threat of Chinese dominance in the world has grown after Britain has returned the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Speaking on GB News, Andy Preston said: “No, it doesn’t look like the right thing to do. And look, to be really honest, I don’t know the full ins and outs of [the Chagos Islands], and that’s the point: none of us do.
“This has been sprung on us without any debate. Surely this should be debated, discussed and thought about a lot by the public, but in particular in the House of Commons.
“It looks suspicious to me. It looks like it’s been rushed through, possibly from a few weeks ago, to get the PM out of a lot of hot water. Is it going to work? I don’t think so. I don’t think his position is resolvable.
“But this looks very suspicious as well from the Tory side where James Cleverly, clearly, one of the architects now crying and wailing like it’s being sprung on him. It doesn’t all add up to me.
“I don’t know the rights and wrongs, but we, you, I deserve to hear this debated in the House of Commons, and that’s got to happen. This is outrageous.
“I’m not a lawyer, and I’m certainly not a lawyer when it comes to international land claims, but my gut feel is that until any deal is ever completely signed by the most senior person, it’s always delayable, at least, or possibly reversible.
“And politicians are cowards. When public opinion is strong enough, they back down. So I have no doubt, if there’s enough fuss about this, if the public unite and make a really strong case, this will be delayed and possibly reversed.
“I think that there is a very significant element of the Labour Party that are deeply uncomfortable with the past. They want to apply present day morals to 200, 800, 1800 years ago, which doesn’t work.
“And all of your viewers and I all know that the past is different and the future will be different too. Our past was good and bad, just like everybody else’s.
“We’ve got to stop apologising. And by the way, in case Keir Starmer is watching this, don’t ever apologise on my behalf, because whatever happened a thousand years ago has nothing to do with me or any of the GB News viewers.
“We need a debate on this. We need to understand it. I don’t know about the legality of the Mauritian elections tomorrow, but surely this has been sprung on us as clearly it’s come as a shock.
“Our politicians come and go, but in China, there’s one party that runs the show. And I’m sure that in a hundred years, there’s one party that runs the show.
“So they think much longer term and the probability of Chinese dominance in that part of the world, and dare I say, globally, has just grown a little bit.”
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