SOUTH West Wiltshire MP, Dr Andrew Murrison, recently reappointed as a defence minister by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, has been representing the government at Remembrance in the Falkland Islands alongside veterans of the Falklands War.

This year marks 40 years since the taskforce sailed for the Falklands after the Argentinian invasion on April 2 1982.

The ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom ended on June 14 1982.

A total of 255 British personnel lost their lives defending the Falklands, of whom 86 were Royal Navy, 124 Army, 27 Royal Marines, six Merchant Navy, four Royal Fleet Auxiliary and eight Hong Kong sailors.

The Argentine forces eventually surrendered after losing the battles to take control of the British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. 

Dr Murrison spent time talking with veterans and families who had made the 8,000-mile journey, with islanders in the capital Port Stanley and with serving personnel at Mount Pleasant.

He said: "The UK remains as committed to upholding the freedom and rights of people against aggressors as we were 40 years ago.