Falkland Islands Falklands from Spain when it achieved independence in 1816, and that, in 1833, the UK expelled Argentine authorities and settlers from the islands with a threat of "greater force" and, afterwards, barred Argentines from resettling the islands. In 2009, the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, had a meeting with the Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and said that there would be no further talks over the sovereignty of the Falklands. In March 2013, the Falkland Islands held a referendum on its political status: 99.8% of voters favoured remaining a British overseas territory. Argentina does not recognise the Falkland Islanders
Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute was held in London, where the British delegation "formally rejected" the Argentine Ambassador's suggestion that the UK's occupation of the Islands was illegal. On 2 December 1980, Nicholas Ridley, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, stated in the House of Commons: "We have no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands... we have a perfectly valid title". The British government regards the right of the islanders to self-determination as "paramount" and rejects the idea of negotiations over sovereignty without the islanders' consent. Supporters of the British position argue: The Constitution of the Falkland Islands, which came