Speeches, etc.

Margaret Thatcher

Christmas Message for the Falklands

Document type: Speeches, interviews, etc.
Venue: No.10 Downing Street
Source: Thatcher Archive: COI transcript
Editorial comments: 1600-1805 kept free for Christmas messages, including briefing. The message was embargoed until its broadcast at 2130 on 23 December 1986.
Importance ranking: Minor
Word count: 425

Once again this Christmas-time, I send all our friends in the Falklands best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a Good New Year.

Christmas is a time for the family. It unites us even across the 8,000 miles of ocean and despite the difference of seasons between London and Stanley.

As my family and friends gather for Christmas at Chequers, our thoughts—as always at this time—are with you all.

1986 has been another year of progress for the Falklands. It has warmed our hearts here in Great Britain to hear of the changes that have been taking place; big things, like Mount Pleasant Airport and the new hospital, as well as the wider ownership of land. All these are evidence of our continuing commitment to your future, but the smaller developments, which depend even more on your own enterprise, are every bit as important and welcome.

And I must say a word about the Fishery Zone, because the announcement of that was a major event. We would have preferred to work through the Food and Agriculture Organisation, to manage fisheries in the whole of the South Atlantic, but with Argentina refusing to cooperate, we could not let another year go by without taking the decisions needed to protect your fish stocks. Their depletion would damage other elements of your natural heritage, so we had to act and stand up for your interests. [end p1]

When we sent the task force in 1982, it was to protect your land and your democratic rights and I cannot stress too much how deeply we feel about this. Of course, you feel the same way, even more so and with good reason, given your experiences in 1982.

This year, you held elections to the Executive Council, and I would like to congratulate the successful candidates and wish them well in carrying our their responsibilities. I know they did you proud again in New York this year at the United Nations. They won the argument, if not the vote.

You have my promise that Britain will stand fast in support of your right to decide your own future, even though other governments at the United Nations choose to apply that fundamental principle in a very selective way. We shall not negotiate about sovereignty.

I also want to send my thanks and warm good wishes to all the servicemen and women in the islands and to all of you who are there to help with development and construction. Many of you will be far away from your families, but they and we are thinking of you and are grateful for what you are doing.

Another year is dawning for Islanders and visitors alike and Denis ThatcherDenis joins me in sending you all our best wishes for Christmas and for 1987.

It has been good to talk to you again.