Falk in the road
OUR new Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband has insisted he is “unwavering” about keeping the Falklands British.
Such a statement from a strong, principled Government backed by a powerful military should leave the Argies thinking twice about ever trying again to take what they call “Las Malvinas”.
Instead, Argentinian president Javier Milei smells weakness and decline. Like our enemies in Russia and China, he knows Britain’s Armed Forces have been hollowed out for years and most of our warships and subs are broken.
Milei will also have read depressing reports that the funding crisis is so bad that Army exercises have been scrapped.
Most of all, Milei knows Labour’s utter failure to ramp up defence spending has caused a bitter rift with our closest ally.
Donald Trump now publicly questions why he should back Britain over the Falklands when Keir Starmer refused to offer any help over the war on Iran.
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The US — increasingly close to Argentina over oil — now sees the UK as an unreliable military partner.
For now, the only reason Argentina has confined itself to sabre-rattling is that its army is so small it probably wouldn’t be able to overwhelm British forces already stationed on the Falklands.
But that is no reason for complacency.
Or the time for weasel words from treacherous Foreign Office mandarins like former Permanent Secretary Lord McDonald, who suggested to the BBC yesterday the islands were too far away, too costly and too strategically unimportant to be worth the £500million-a-year cost of defending them.
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No doubt Miliband is receiving similar advice from the Whitehall appeasers who persuaded Andy Burnham and Starmer to give away the Chagos Islands.
But the fact that craven politicians have left Britain with virtually no chance today of sending a Falklands task force of the size sent by Margaret Thatcher in 1982 is NOT a reason for more capitulation.
Milei’s rant should be yet another urgent warning to Labour to arm our military properly and protect ALL British citizens at home and abroad.
Not so slick
AS WITH so much from our new Prime Minister, the promise fails to meet the reality.
On the face of it, there is good news that he will finally approve drilling in the Jackdaw North Sea gas field — a sensible decision that Labour should have taken two years ago.
But in hock to the Net Zero loons, Burnham is still likely to block the Rosebank development because that contains mainly oil.
Norway has sunk 45 North Sea wells while Labour has delayed.
Britain needs BOTH to be operational as soon as possible AND to start exploration of new reserves.
Anything less will leave our energy security in as much of a mess as ever.