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Andy Burnham will face a showdown over the stalled surrender of the Chagos Islands when he visits New York next month. Mauritius will use the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly to demand that the UK go ahead with plans to hand the islands to them.

But the Prime Minister’s hands are tied after Donald Trump withdrew his support for the transfer earlier this year, calling it an “act of great stupidity”. Mr Burnham hopes to meet the US president during the event, his first major global summit as Prime Minister, to ask for more support for Ukraine.

The UK agreed in May 2025 to give the islands to Mauritius. Under the deal, Britain will pay £101million annually to lease back the Diego Garcia military base over 99 years. But the plans have been in limbo since Mr Trump spoke out against them. The UK Government confirmed in April that legislation authorising the transfer would not go ahead, but the agreement has not been officially cancelled either.

Mauritius could call on the UN General Assembly to label the UK’s continued occupation of the islands illegal, or even to call for sanctions. The island nation’s government had been hoping to use the UK cash to plug its budget deficit.

The Daily Telegraph reports one official in Port Louis, the Mauritian capital, said “all possibilities were being looked into”.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US, which has protected our shared security for nearly 60 years.

“This Government inherited a situation where UK control over the vital military base on Diego Garcia was under threat.

“Maintaining long-term operational control and security of Diego Garcia is the entire basis for the UK-Mauritius agreement.

“We will continue to work closely with the US and Mauritius on the way forward that is in the UK’s best interests and protects our national security.”

In an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Burnham said he was “looking forward to going to New York” for the UN meeting next month.

He said details of the trip are not yet “fully confirmed” but it is “likely” to go ahead. The trip would mark Mr Burnham’s first US visit since becoming Prime Minister in July.

The comments come amid Mr Burnham’s first trip to Kyiv as Prime Minister, where the UK reiterated its “unwavering” support for Ukraine.

Ukraine in turn handed over what officials have called a “goldmine” of battlefield data to help bolster British security.

During a meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Burnham reiterated there would be “no change in the UK’s steadfast support” for Kyiv.

He also urged Ukraine’s allies to send more interceptor missiles to Kyiv as Ukraine struggles under continued Russian bombardment and co-chaired his first coalition of the willing meeting, where he said the group was doing “everything we can” to “dig into our own stocks and help others dig into their stocks”.

Mr Zelensky has repeatedly pleaded for more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles in recent months as Kyiv’s stocks have diminished.