The leader of West Sussex County Council has written to Tony Blair demanding £500,000 to cover the cost of sheltering more than 100 exiled islanders.

Refugees from Diego Garcia are staying in a hotel in Crawley, each costing the council £1,000 a week.

Coun Harold Hall has written to the Prime Minister insisting the Government takes over responsibility for them.

He writes: "I put it to you that it is time to require your Ministers to resolve this matter in the orderly, managed fashion which the islanders have sought and for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to meet costs borne by the residents of West Sussex, currently in the region of £500,000 per annum."

The High Court will this week deliver its judgement on the Diego Garcian's legal action against the Foreign Office for compensation and the right of return.

Last month, they were celebrating after a High Court judge ruled their stay in Sussex should be paid for by the county council.

But the authority was dismayed, saying the revenue used to pay for their stay will hit local services.

The ruling allowed the group to stay in Crawley, where many work in low-paid jobs or scrape by on £30 a week, to carry on fighting their case for permanent residency.

Diego Garcian's, who hold British passports, were forced to move to Mauritius in the late Sixties and early Seventies when Britain allowed the US to take over their island to build a military base.