THE Tories are foaming at the mouth at the “transfer of sovereignty” of the Chagos Islands from the UK to Mauritius.
I shall not go into the shameful, decades-long story of the conduct in the affair of UK Governments of either party and how the UK defied international rulings on the illegality of their actions. I do think, however, that there are parallels for National readers, supporters of Scottish independence more generally, and the SNP government to consider in the attitudes behind both the Tories’ reaction, and also the defences being offered by the Labour government.
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This “sovereignty” is over an archipelago that was cleared illegally of all of its indigenous inhabitants between 1967 and 1973. There is only one inhabited island, Diego Garcia, which houses a US base. Here, cars drive on the right and the currency is the US dollar. Some sovereignty for the UK!
Yet we are seeing precisely the same “never let go” mentality of the UK that Scotland faces. We need to remember this as we plan for our own independence.
Gavin Brown
Linlithgow
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