London Descendants of slaves transported to pick coconuts on a tropical plantation asked the House of Lords yesterday for the right to return to their homeland.

The 2,000-strong population of the Chagos Islands was forcibly removed by Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s to make way for the US military to establish an air base on the largest island, Diego Garcia. Islanders were exiled 1,000 miles to Mauritius and the Seychelles.

The law lords were asked by counsel for David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, to consider that the islanders own no land there and that America needed the archipelago uninhabited to protect an air base that has become more vital then ever because of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Jonathan Crow, QC, for the Foreign Secretary, reminded the law lords that Britain had paid compensation totalling £14.5 million over the years to recompense for the clearances.

Times Archive, 1920: Complete happiness in the Chagos archipelago

There are no cares or troubles of the outer world

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The High Court and Court of Appeal have previously found for the Chagossians’ right to return but Mr Miliband decided to take the case to the law lords.

In 2004 the Government issued “Orders in Council”, declaring that no person had the right of abode in the territory. Orders in Council are a way for ministers to exercise the Royal Prerogative, derived from medieval times. The manoeuvre had the effect of bypassing the Commons, peers and, ministers believed, the judges. The Government argues that the Colonial Laws Validity Act 1865 prevented the courts from intervening. The hearing continues.

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