Residents of the Falkland Islands clearly expressed their desire to maintain the archipelago a British Overseas Territory in a referendum held in 2013.
Nevertheless, Argentina continues to dispute British sovereignty of the territory.
The election of President Javier Milei in late 2023 renewed fears Buenos Aires may seek to take the archipelago by force, four decades after Britain won the Falklands War.
During the electoral campaign Mr Milei stoked the Argentinian dream of annexing the Falkland Islands, known in the Latin American country as Las Malvinas. However, he also said he would not enter a military clash with the UK.
He said: “What do I propose? Argentina’s sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands is non-negotiable. The Malvinas are Argentine.
“Now we have to see how we are going to get them back. It is clear that the war option is not a solution. We had a war – that we lost – and now we have to make every effort to recover the islands through diplomatic channels.”
The spokesman for UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was quick to hit out at any suggestion London would ever hand over the Falklands to Argentina, saying there is “no doubt” the islands are British.
Speaking in November, he added the British Government would continue to “proactively defend the Falkland islanders right to self-determination”.
Lord David Cameron further demonstrated London’s continuing support for the Overseas Territory this week, as he became the first UK Foreign Secretary to visit the archipelago in person in six years.
During the trip, Lord Cameron said he hoped the islands would wish to remain part of the British “family” forever and met with members of the local government and toured battle sites of the war.
This sentiment towards the archipelago is shared also by the majority of Britons, a newly-released YouGov poll suggested.
The majority of the 2066 respondents to the poll in the UK, 57 percent, said the Falklands are British, while only 16 percent said they should be given to Buenos Aires.
However, citizens of other EU nations don’t appear to be siding with London on this issue, with the majority of respondents to this survey in France, Germany, Italy and Spain saying the archipelago should be Argentinian.
Now Express.co.uk is asking its readers whether they think the UK should sit once again at the negotiating table with Argentina to discuss the sovereignty of the Falklands or if they think London should always maintain the archipelago is a British territory.
