Ed Miliband says UK will 'resolutely uphold' Falkland Islands self-determination

The UK will "resolutely uphold" the self determination of the Falkland Islands, Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has said, after Argentinian president Javier Milei said his country needed to take them back.

Milei said the "winds of change" favoured Argentina's claim to the islands and pledged sanctions on firms planning to exploit close to the British overseas territory.

A British and Israeli partnership due to begin exploration work on the Sea Lion oilfield said it didn't expect recent developments to affect its work in the region.

Earlier Downing Street reaffirmed its position that the islands would remain a British Overseas Territory "for as long as the Islanders wish".

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More than 40 years after the war over the territory, sovereignty of the archipelago in the south-west Atlantic Ocean remains hotly disputed between Britain and Argentina.

However in a 2013 referendum, residents of the islands voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory - with 99.8% voting in favour and just three voting against.

Announcing his plan for sanctions in a national address on Thursday, Milei reiterated that the Falkland Islands were "historically and legally" Argentinian.

Milei described the Sea Lion oilfield as a "clear and present danger", and said if Argentina does not act swiftly, "they will have the material capacity to access the oil that lies underneath our sea – something that has never happened before."

It is not yet clear how or to what extent the sanctions will be imposed or tightened. In Argentina, a current law already allows for restrictions of activities of oil companies participating in projects considered unauthorised on the islands.

Two oil companies – Britain's Rockhopper Exploration and Israel's Navitas Petroleum – are due to begin extracting oil in the Sea Lion oilfield off the Falklands coast within two years, something Milei said Argentina could not allow.

A joint statement from the two firms on Friday said it had the valid licences granted by the government of the Falkland Islands, "and with the full support of the UK government."

The project is due to deliver its first oil in 2028, Rockhopper and Navitas said the partnerships' timetable would not be affected.

The Sea Lion oilfield, around 130 miles from the islands, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil - described by Rockhopper as a field containing "highly marketable crude".

In comparison, the Rosebank oil field 80 miles west of the Shetland islands in the North Sea, contains an estimated 300 million barrels .

On Thursday, President Trump hinted the US would not help the UK in any future Falklands conflict because Britain "had not been there to help me" during his war with Iran.

Trump's latest remarks on the islands come after he previously said the US position on the Falklands is one of many under review .

Writing on X on Friday, Miliband said the Islands would remain British as that is the "overwhelming position of the islanders."

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting also said Britain's commitment to the Falkland Islands was "absolute and unshakeable".

"Milei's statement overnight tells us more about domestic politics in Argentina than it does about the Falkland Islands," he wrote in his own post on X.

Downing Street's statement said it was "not the first time" the Argentine government had made economic threats against the Falkland Islands.

"We are clear that the Falkland Islanders' right of self-determination extends to the right to exploit their own natural resources," it said.

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