By Telegraph Reporters

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Endangered turtles living in the “pristine ocean” around the Chagos Islands could be at risk following its handover to Mauritius, Dame Emily Thornberry has said.

Dame Emily, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee, said ministers had been “distracted by Tories jumping up and down and talking about [how] this is like Gibraltar” and were “forgetting their responsibility towards the marine life on the islands”.

She said the Chagos Islands were a crucial resting point for wildlife, including the critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtle, and the area had an unusually healthy coral reef that acted as a “reseeder” for other reefs in the Indian Ocean.

For the past 15 years, there has been a no-take zone around the Chagos Islands, protecting it from commercial fishing and providing “the most extraordinary sanction” for wildlife, she said.

In May, the UK Government signed an agreement to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The deal ensures a joint UK-US military base will remain on Diego Garcia, the largest island, for at least 99 years at an average annual cost of £101m.

‘I just worry it’s all going to fall apart’

The Government plans to draw up a memorandum of understanding with the Mauritian government to lay out plans for protection of the marine environment.

However, Dame Emily said she was worried that this may not provide “lasting confidence” that there were the necessary safeguards to protect the ecosystem for decades to come.

She added: “There’s no funding mechanism in place that ties the hands of the Mauritians. I just worry it’s all going to fall apart. If Mauritius does go back on its word – let’s say we have a new government, or let’s say that there’s a misunderstanding as to just how strong the commitment from the Mauritians really was – what can Britain do about it?

“I mean, once we’ve handed them over, I don’t think there’s anything we can do.”

The Chagos Islands, a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands, and the 640,000km sq of ocean around them possess huge biodiversity, including the world’s largest coral atoll and 800 species of fish.

Dame Emily said the islands were a “meeting point from east to west”, providing a “resting point for apex predators that are flying across the Indian Ocean” and a place where the Hawksbill turtle could “forage and take a rest”.

Despite “warm words” from the Mauritian government on the subject of conservation, Ms Thornberry said the ecosystem around Mauritius itself had been substantially “degraded”.

The UK Government set up the Chagos Marine Protected Area in 2010, with patrols enforcing the no-take zone, and other activities to protect the unique habitats and rich marine biodiversity.

Dame Emily, who held numerous shadow cabinet positions when Labour was in opposition, said she was concerned that, without proper guarantees in place, the marine area around the Chagos Islands could see a spike in fishing and a loss of pristine ocean.