THE government has washed itself of British Chagossians’ right to return in its latest deal to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, MPs heard today.

Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty faced an urgent question in the Commons over the plan after it was criticised by the new Mauritian president on Tuesday.

Forming part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, annexed from the colony of Mauritius in 1965 before independence was granted, islanders were forcibly removed to make way for US and British military interests.