As Parliament returns and Andy Burnham faces his first questions as Prime Minister, few issues have united the British public like the future of the Chagos Islands, and no organisation has done more to force that question onto the national agenda than the Great British PAC.
What began as a cause confined to legal footnotes and diplomatic cables has become one of the defining sovereignty debates of the moment, driven by a campaign that has combined commissioned polling, legal action, and an unrelenting public effort on behalf of the Chagossian people. The PAC's argument is simple. A displaced people should not have their homeland signed away without ever being asked.
The Poll That Shook the Debate
The centrepiece of the campaign so far is the YouGov poll commissioned by the Great British PAC, which found that 72% of Britons believe the Chagossian people should be given a vote on whether sovereignty of the islands transfers to Mauritius. Just 6% disagree. The survey, based on responses from 2,158 UK adults, recorded majority support across voters of every major party from the 2024 general election, across all age groups and all socio economic backgrounds.
One clear sign of the campaign's impact is the YouGov poll commissioned by the Great British PAC, which found that 72% of Britons believe the Chagossian people should be given a vote on whether sovereignty of the islands transfers to Mauritius. Just 6% disagree. The survey, based on responses from 2,158 UK adults, recorded majority support across voters of every major party from the 2024 general election, across all age groups and all socio economic backgrounds.
Claire Bullivant, the PAC's chief executive, described the results as an unusually clear and consistent message from the public, arguing that a question of self determination on this scale should not be dismissed. When a national poll produces consensus of this breadth, ministers ignore it at their peril.
More Than a Polling Exercise
The PAC's record on Chagos goes considerably further than one survey. In June 2025 the organisation launched legal action aimed at exposing what it argues were the illegal actions of the British government in signing the restitution agreement, a challenge Bullivant has set out at length, explaining why she helped organise and fund a judicial review of a decision that was being rushed through while questions of legality remained unresolved.
The PAC has also helped the Chagossians establish a Government in Exile, giving a dispersed community a unified political voice for the first time, and has kept up sustained pressure on Downing Street through a petition urging Burnham to cancel the Chagos surrender, which has gathered more than 3,000 signatures, alongside an active fundraising campaign to fund the legal fight. Every avenue has been pursued, in the courts, in the press, and in the country.
The Deal Being Fought
The agreement in question, originally signed under Sir Keir Starmer in 2025, would see Britain cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while leasing back the Diego Garcia military base, a site jointly run with the United States, for at least 99 years. The deal was shelved temporarily earlier this year after pressure from the Trump administration, but reports suggest Burnham intends to press ahead largely unchanged, despite a spokesperson having said that no final decisions had been taken.
The Chagossian community itself has spoken with remarkable clarity. A survey of the global Chagossian diaspora, carried out in late 2025 and endorsed by Andrew Hawkins, founder of the polling firm Whitestone Insight, gathered around 3,389 responses worldwide, roughly a third of the estimated 8,000 to 10,000 strong global population and around two thirds of those based in the UK. Of those who answered questions on the islands' future, more than 99% backed continued British sovereignty over a transfer to Mauritius. Hawkins called the scale of participation exceptional and said the results should be taken seriously.
The cost dispute has only sharpened the case. The government's own figure, based on the real terms value of payments over the 99 year lease, puts the deal at around £3.4 billion. Critics, including the Conservatives, add up the cash value of every annual payment without discounting for inflation and arrive at figures closer to £35 billion. Fact checkers note both are legitimate ways of expressing the same commitment, but the opposition argues the lower figure understates the burden on taxpayers. A separate YouGov poll reported by the Telegraph found that 59% of Britons now think the deal is bad for the country.
A Question of Principle
Former Conservative minister Dame Priti Patel has accused the government of sidelining Chagossian voices throughout the negotiations, a criticism that echoes the PAC's central argument. The principle at stake is one Britain has applied in the Falklands and in Gibraltar. Before a people's homeland is handed away, that people should be asked.
With Parliament back in session, the Chagos deal is expected to feature in the questions Burnham faces from opposition MPs this week, and the Great British PAC's campaign shows no sign of easing. The Great British PAC is leading the fight for the Chagos Islands and supports all actions taken by and for the Chagossian people in defence of their homeland. The demand is not radical. It is that a people removed from their islands once already should not see those islands given away a second time without ever being consulted.
Sign the petition, support the legal fund, and add your voice to a campaign that now has the British public behind it, 72% at a time.
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