During visit to islands, defence secretary accuses Labour leader of seeking to override the wishes of the islanders

Jeremy Corbyn presents a greater threat to the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands than Argentina, the defence secretary Michael Fallon has said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Fallon at the Liberation monument in Stanley, Falkland Islands. Photograph: MoD/Crown copyright/PA

Speaking during the first visit to the Falklands by a UK defence secretary in more than a decade, Fallon accused the Labour leader of seeking to override the wishes of the islanders.

He told the BBC: “The biggest threat at the moment isn’t Argentina. Actually it is Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party, who seem determined to override the wishes of the islanders. That’s the immediate threat because Labour are the principal opposition and will be presumably fighting the next election on that basis. He has said that the rights of the islanders can’t be [held] up.”

The remarks by Fallon, which were challenged by chairman of the Falklands Legislative Assembly, will revive memories of his highly personalised attack on Ed Miliband during the election. Fallon said last April that Miliband could not be trusted with the nation’s defences after he “stabbed his own brother in the back to become Labour leader”.

The defence secretary attacked Corbyn after the Labour leader said that the recent election of Mauricio Macri as Argentinian president presented an opportunity for dialogue over the Falklands. Macri replaced Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who accused Britain of militarising the South Atlantic and said the islands should be returned to Argentina.

Corbyn told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 on 17 January: “I think there has to be a discussion about how you can bring about some reasonable accommodation with Argentina. It seems to me ridiculous that in the 21st century we’d be getting into some enormous conflict with Argentina about the islands just off it. Yes, of course the islanders have an enormous say in this, let’s bring about some sensible dialogue. It happened before, I’m sure it can happen again.”

But Fallon agreed that the election of Macri provided an opportunity for an improvement in relations with Buenos Aires. “I hope that opportunity can now be taken,” he said.

Jeremy Corbyn wants power-sharing deal for Falkland Islands Read more

Michael Summers, chairman of the Falklands Islands Legislative Assembly, said that Argentina, rather than Jeremy Corbyn, presented the greatest threat to the Falklands.

Asked about the greatest threat, Summers told the BBC: “It is undoubtedly Argentina and the Argentine general approach to the Falklands. Mr Corbyn has his views. We have invited him to listen to Falkland islanders so he properly understands modern developments in the Falklands and our way of life.”

The defence secretary laid a wreath at a memorial obelisk in remembrance of the 255 British servicemen killed in the 1982 conflict, when Margaret Thatcher sent a task force to the South Atlantic to reclaim the islands after the Argentinian invasion. His handwritten note said: “In grateful memory of those who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of these islands.”