David Cameron has called on Argentina to respect the wishes of the Falkland islanders after they voted overwhelmingly to remain British.
The Prime Minister said the 99.8% referendum vote in favour of remaining a British Overseas Territory was the “clearest possible result there could be”.
Argentina, however, responded with renewed calls for the UK to enter government-to-government talks to resolve finally their long-running dispute over the islands’ sovereignty.
The result of the two-day referendum while never in doubt was celebrated by jubilant islanders waving union flags in the capital Port Stanley.
Of the 1,517 votes cast in a 92% turnout, just three were against the proposition that the islands should retain their status as an overseas territory of the UK.
Speaking in No 10, Mr Cameron said the Argentines should take “careful note” of the virtually-unanimous outcome.
“The Falkland Islands may be thousands of miles away but they are British through and through and that is how they want to stay.
“People should know we will always be there to defend them,” he added.
On the islands, assembly member Dick Sawle said: “The British Government is 100% behind us and it will be our job now as a government to get that message out to the rest of the world and every country that will listen to us.”
However, Alicia Castro, the Argentine ambassador to London, said the referendum was “totally irrelevant” and “a manoeuvre with no legal value”.
“They are British we respect their way of life, their identity,” she said.
“We respect that they want to continue being British but the territory they live in is not British.”