The arrival of 600 Chagossian migrants in west London since July has pushed Hillingdon Council to the brink of financial collapse, officials have warned, amid the fallout from Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s controversial handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The Tory-run borough, already struggling in the face of asylum pressures, faces a £2million bill this year alone for emergency housing and support, with leaders pleading for urgent government aid as costs spiral “out of control.”
The influx stems from a landmark October agreement in which the UK ceded sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago—a British overseas territory since 1814—to Mauritius, while securing a 99-year lease on the strategic Diego Garcia military base…