MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“The Falklands cannot remain British for ever,” a Guardian column argues

The columnist reviewed the negotiations that preceded the 1982 war

In an opinion column published in the British newspaper The Guardian, writer Simon Jenkins argued that the Falklands “cannot remain British for ever” and called for London to eventually reopen sovereignty negotiations with Argentina. The piece is the columnist's personal opinion and does not represent the newspaper's editorial position.

Jenkins took as his starting point two recent developments: the agreement reached this week between the United Kingdom and Spain to dismantle the Gibraltar border, and the “Las Malvinas son Argentinas” banner that Argentine players displayed after knocking England out of the World Cup semifinal. Drawing on that contrast, the author argued that none of Britain's imperial-era territories has an eternal right to remain as it is, and noted that defending the islands costs the British taxpayer more than £60 million a year.

The columnist reviewed the negotiations that preceded the 1982 war. In 1980, then-minister Nicholas Ridley presented islanders with a “leaseback” formula, under which the United Kingdom would cede sovereignty to Argentina and then lease the islands back for a lengthy period while retaining administration. The historical record confirms that the proposal was rejected by the islanders themselves, hostile to ceding sovereignty to a country then ruled by a military junta, and that the British government had pledged not to proceed without their consent. Jenkins argued that Argentina's invasion in April 1982, while talks were under way, collapsed that path and froze any discussion of the islands' future for more than four decades.

In one of the most contentious passages, the author held that Britain's staunch defense of the archipelago is partly explained by the fact that the islanders were, in his words, white and British, unlike other populations of territories London relinquished. This is the columnist's personal thesis, not an established fact, and it contrasts with the official British position, which grounds its sovereignty in the principle of the inhabitants' self-determination.

That position rests on the 2013 referendum, cited in the column itself, in which 99.8% of 1,517 voters chose to remain a British overseas territory. There has been no resumption of sovereignty negotiations since, and successive British governments maintain that the question cannot be discussed without the islanders' consent. Argentina, for its part, maintains its claim and has on various occasions asked to reopen talks.

Jenkins concluded that, sooner or later, a British government will find the courage to reopen negotiations, though he was skeptical that a banner unfurled at a US stadium could drive such a change. The Falklands, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic, remain the subject of a sovereignty dispute with Argentina. The 74-day war of 1982, begun with the invasion by General Leopoldo Galtieri's military junta, left 649 Argentine servicemen, 255 British servicemen, and three islanders dead.