James Sunderland intervenes in a debate on the sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory to highlight the importance of the military base to NATO saying it would be “pathological nonsense to concede access”.
James Sunderland (Bracknell) (Con)
I may be one of very few parliamentarians, if not the only one, who has been to the British Indian Ocean Territory on duty as a military person, so I have seen at first hand how important that base is to NATO and beyond. For me, it is clear; we have two submarine Z-berths there and a large airbase, which was directly involved with the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is an American airbase that is owned by the British. To my mind, it would be pathological nonsense to concede access to that part of the world.
Daniel Kawczynski
I completely agree with my hon. Friend and I am grateful to him for his intervention. I will not give way again for a few minutes, because I have a lot to get through.