Mauritius has thanked Donald Trump for supporting Labour’s deal to give away the Chagos Islands.

Gavin Glover, the country’s advocate general, told The Telegraph that the talks over the agreement had entered their final phase and had been hastened along with the support of the US president.

The government lawyer, who is leading the Mauritian delegation of negotiators, said: “We are working on the finer details to complete the deal to which both the UK and Mauritius are committed.

“We are not going to have a running commentary on what is happening. Suffice to say that the support from the Trump administration has helped along the process, which is nearing completion.”

Negotiators are battling over the details of Britain’s lease payments for the Diego Garcia air base, which is on the largest of the Chagos Islands and is shared with the US.

The Telegraph previously revealed that Mauritius had submitted fresh demands for higher lease payments for the base and additional development funding, beyond the reported £9billion already on the table.