Britain ‘will not allow Falklands be taken’ again

British defence secretary Philip Hammond rejected claims that Britain would be unable to defend the Falklands against an Argentinian assault as both countries marked the 30-year anniversary of the war in the South Atlantic.

He said Britain would “robustly” defend the islands against any attack and said it had “the assets, the people, [and] the equipment in place to do so”.

Admiral John Woodward, who led the taskforce to recover the islands in 1982, said that while Britain was without an aircraft carrier it would not be able to repeat the successful mission of 30 years ago.