Andy Burnham vows to 'defend our interest' as Argentina takes Falklands oil project row to tribunal

Andy Burnham vows to 'defend our interest' as Argentina takes Falklands oil project row to tribunal Argentina has launched a legal dispute against the UK for its joint venture with an Israeli oil company following the country's president Javier Milei giving Britain a two-week deadline to scrap the Sea Lion oilfield The UK has vowed to ‘robustly defend’ its interests after Argentina launched a legal challenge over an oil project near the Falkland Islands. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will hear Argentina’s request for provisional measures on Tuesday, with the hearing expected to last two days. Speaking ahead of the hearing, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Britain was “fully engaged in the UNCLOS process and we’ll clearly set out our position on Argentina’s request for provisional measures before the tribunal”. He added: “We’ll continue to robustly defend our interests and those of the Falkland Islanders. The hearing is not about the sovereignty of the Falklands.” The spokesman went on: “We don’t accept Argentina’s characterisation of the situation. The Falkland Islanders have the right to develop their natural resources, and Argentina’s initiation of proceedings does not itself require lawful economic activity to cease. We’ll set out our legal position before the tribunal.” The hearing follows a two-week deadline set by Argentina’s President Javier Milei in September for the Sea Lion oilfield project to be scrapped. Milei said he had “instructed the Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate international arbitration” against the UK if the deadline was missed, over what he called “the illegal plundering of our resources through the Sea Lion Project”. He also said the oilfield was a "clear and present danger". The project is a joint venture between Britain's Rockhopper Exploration and Israel's Navitas Petroleum in the South Atlantic, around 130 miles from the Falkland Islands. The oilfield contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil, and the companies are expected to start extracting it within two years. Andy Burnham previously said: “I didn’t react immediately when the Argentinian president made his recent comments, but in this forum, I think it’s right for me to set out the position clearly, and the clear position is: we will stand firm in the face of any threats,” adding: “We will defend the right of the Falkland Islanders to self-determination and to remain British.” Britain and Argentina fought a war over the Falklands in 1982. Islanders have since voted overwhelmingly for the Falklands to remain a British overseas territory, but Milei dismissed their wishes in a speech to the UN. He argued that the principle of self-determination did not apply “since the population was implanted by the occupying power on a territory whose sovereignty is in dispute”.