OUTRAGE as Argentina tells BRITAIN to slash its armed forces and 'fix the NHS'
ARGENTINA blasted the UK tonight for LYING about the Falklands crisis - and told David Cameron he should cut military spending and fix the NHS instead.
Cristina Kirchner's regime said Britain were "absolutely unjustifiable" in claiming Buenos Aires posed any real threat to the Falkland Islands.
They also claimed that the issue of the island's defences was being raised just as part of the Conservative campaign ahead of May's General Election.
The Embassy of Argentina in London said: "It is absolutely unjustifiable, as well as implausible, to raise the spectre of a supposed 'Argentine threat' as grounds for increasing the UK’s military budget and reinforcing the ever greater militarisation of the islands.
"These substantial funds should instead be used for the benefit of the British people: to tackle unemployment, improve education and healthcare, and broaden social inclusion.
"British citizens and taxpayers should not continue to be deceived in this way, by reawakening spectres from the past."
It is absolutely unjustifiable, as well as implausible, to raise the spectre of a supposed 'Argentine threat'
Argentina also called on Britain to restart negotiations about the future of the Falkland Islands.
This is in spite of a referendum two years ago where the vast majority (99.8 per cent) of Falkland Islanders voted in favour of remaining British.
The Argentine statement added: "On 24 March 1976 a military coup took place in Argentina that many foreign powers greeted with complicit silence.
"It is a sad and unfortunate paradox that, on the very day 39 years later, the Malvinas Islands are being used in the UK electoral campaign and that references are continually being made to a war started 32 years ago by a genocidal dictatorship that amounted to the greatest political, social, economic and cultural disaster for the Argentine people."
The comments come after Michael Fallon yesterday announced the UK were bolstering the defences of the Falklands.
The Defence Secretary said the upgrade happened in the face of a "very live threat" that Argentina could mount an invasion of the British territory.
Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Mr Fallon said: "The threat remains. It is a very live threat. We have to respond to it.
"We do need to modernise our defences to ensure that we have sufficient troops there and that the islands are properly defended in terms of air defence and maritime defence.
"The threat, of course, to the islands remains but so does our commitment to being absolutely clear that islanders have the right to remain British and the right to proper protection by our forces.
"It is our general view that the threat has not reduced. Argentina still, sadly, maintains its claim to the islands 30 or more years after the original invasion and the war and we have to respond to that."
The Falklands Explained
The issue of the islands' sovereignty has been raised by Argentina numerous times since the Falklands War.
The conflict was sparked after Argentine forces invaded the British overseas territory in 1982.
The Falklands War lasted for 74 days and left 649 Argentine military personnel dead and cost the lives of 255 British soldiers and three Falkland Islanders.
