US 'to threaten Britain over Falklands' if Burnham does not hike defence spending
The US has threatened to oppose British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands if Andy Burnham does not increase defence spending sufficiently, it has been reported.
Listen to this article
The Trump administration could make the bombshell declaration as senior defence officials at the Pentagon try to force allies to hit Nato's 5 per cent spending pledge.
A senior official in the US reportedly told The Telegraph that Britain will receive "special attention" from Washington in its attempts to get Nato up to the spending figure.
The source said: “I would expect the UK to receive special attention because it has so much potential.
“We will therefore continue efforts to incentivise and enable the UK to step up in a major way.”
On the question of the Falklands, the official told The Telegraph: “I can say that they [conversations] are candid and nothing is being ruled out as far as options for encouraging the sort of burden-sharing that we seek.”
The island's sovereignty has long been a contentious political issue - with Argentina maintaining that it should control the south Atlantic territory.
Britain and Argentina fought the 1982 Falklands War over the islands - with Argentina defeated but never dropping their claim.
The question of the island's future shot into view earlier this summer, when officials from the South American nation suggested that talks should be opened ahead of the World Cup semi-final between England and Argentina.
After Argentina won the match 2-0, their players then unfurled a banner reading "The Malvinas are Argentine".
The Malvinas are the name which Argentines used for the archipelago.