𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Andy Burnham has warned that the UK will not bow to sabre-rattling from Argentina over their continued threats toward the Falkland Islands. Speaking in the United States while attending the United Nations summit, the Prime Minister rebuked the Argentine president, Javier Milei. It follows heightened rhetoric from the South American leader who had repeated his country’s claim over the British Overseas Territory.

Argentina previously failed in an attempt to seize the islands in the Falklands War in 1982 and was soundly defeated by the British military. There have been frequent flare-ups from Buenos Aires in the intervening years as successive Presidents have tried to assert a claim over the British Territory.

But speaking to reporters on the fringes of the UN Summit, Mr Burnham said the UK “will stand firm in the face of any threats” to the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

Just last month, Mr Milei threatened to impose sanctions on British companies operating off the coast of the Islands and spoke of his desire to take the territory.

In a national address, the Argentine President said that the “winds of change” favoured his country’s claim to the territory.

London has long maintained that the Falklands are British, and often refers to a 2013 referendum taken of Islanders where only one voter said they did not see themselves as such.

Speaking at the time of Mr Milei’s inflammatory address earlier this month, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the UK’s position on the islands was “unwavering”, and they would remain British as “that is the overwhelming position of the Islanders.”

The issue has come to the fore again, despite the British winning the Falklands War, and the referendum returning a result in favour of remaining British, after President Trump suggested the US position on it was being reviewed.

He said the United States’ position on the Falkland Islands is “one of many” under review at the beginning of September.

Those comments came in response to rising criticism from the White House over the UK’s military spending commitments.

The Falkland Islands continue to be the subject of a sovereignty dispute between Britain and Argentina.

The two countries waged a brief war, which the British won, over the territory in 1982. A British military task force expelled Argentine forces that had landed on the Falklands to stake a territorial claim.

The 74-day conflict led to the deaths of 255 British military personnel, three islanders and 649 Argentine military personnel.