THE Government’s announcement that the UK will give up the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands may not seem, on the face of it, to be particularly relevant to the people of Clacton.

Yet, there are 6,000 military veterans in this constituency who bravely served their country.

I applaud the work done locally by the Clacton Royal British Legion, the Clacton Veterans Breakfast Club, and the North Essex Veterans Support Group, amongst many others.

While very few will have served at the Diego Garcia military base, many have served in Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.

Indeed in 1982, the East Essex Gazette wrote that almost 40 local men from Kirby, St Osyth, Holland, Walton, Frinton, Thorpe, Weeley, and Clacton went to war for their country and fought for British sovereignty.

The Government assures us that these territories are not about to be given away too, but just like the Winter Fuel Allowance cut, Chagos happened without being in the recent Labour manifesto.

As your local MP, I wrote a letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy at the weekend demanding a proper debate and a vote on the subject before any treaty is signed by the Government.

After submitting an Urgent Question on Monday morning, I then questioned David Lammy in the House of Commons about what our American allies would think of this surrender.

Whilst Mr Lammy was adamant that the Government has consulted our American allies in full, I can’t help but think that China will be delighted by this move and that Labour are making the world a more dangerous place.

There are some in that party who are deeply embarrassed about our colonial legacy, even ashamed of our history.

I am not one of them because we cannot change the past.

Compared to other countries we have a good relationship with our former colonies in the shape of the Commonwealth.

I will be watching the next steps from this Government very carefully and continue to hold them to account.