Britain urgently needs an Antarctica strategy

Now that a deal has been struck with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands, the government’s focus should be on the UK’s southernmost overseas territories. There are three of them: the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) and the British Antarctic Territory (BAT). As increasingly tense geopolitics make the world more hostile, these territories are becoming ever more vulnerable. If Britain wants to secure its presence here in the face of the looming shadows of Argentina, Russia, China and the US – to name a few – Labour urgently needs to start thinking about how it does so.

The Strategic Defence Review (SDR) for 2025 is expected to be published this coming week. It will reveal where the Labour government believes the future direction of the UK armed forces lies. In any strategic audit, crises and conflicts such as Ukraine will loom large, as will the Middle East.