There is no negotiations necessary with Argentina or anybody else over the governance of the Falkland Islands. Whatever occurred 200 or more years ago no Argentinians were ejected from the islands when the British last took control of them and it is difficult to formulate a reasoned argument for the current claim which is, to put it at its highest, highly dubious. However, none of that particularly matters. The people there now are British (whether they are “aboriginal” or not). They want to remain British (over 99% voted in favour of doing so a few years ago) and that is the end of the matter.
I visited the Falkland Islands in the early 1970s. This was at a time when few people could pick them out on a map and long before they became famous. The people I met there were fiercely British (far more so than many people in the UK today) and wished to remain so.
It’s not easy to understand what Mr Corbyn means when he speaks of “negotiation”. The joint sovereignty idea that he has will never work. The Argentinians will insist on populating the islands and it will lead to strife and civil unrest. Plainly, the idea is ridiculous.
It is quite true that many of Mr Corbyn’s supporters are young and easily (mis)led. Because they were not around in 1982 is scarcely reason enough for them to ignore history. As Simon Weston aptly states, to consider “negotiation” with Argentina over an issue over which they have no reasonable interest (other than relative geographical proximity) will betray Mr Weston as well as Baldric and his comrades who gave their all (over 300 making the ultimate sacrifice) to prevent the islands being taken by force. Of course many people, particularly youngsters recently out of 11 or 12 years of State education, will have been brainwashed in anti-Thatcher rhetoric. They will have been taught, no doubt, that the loss of life was entirely her fault and that the only way to resolve the issue (not that one exists) is appeasement. Well they should do as slapshot suggests - visit the islands, speak to the people there and after doing so consider whether they would like their homeland taken over by a foreign government who fancies it is theirs by right.