The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, has announced the intention to call a general election in the second half of this year.
An IPSOS survey places the Conservative Party, after 14 years in power, at the lowest level of popularity since 2010. Labour, under the leadership of Keir Stammer, emerges as a credible alternative government with 47% support.
Although it is premature to make definitive predictions, opinion polls show that Stammer, considered a technocrat on the right wing of Labour, is the most popular member of the opposition since Tony Blair and seems to fly more pragmatic flags than his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.
In foreign policy, the Labor leader has generally assumed moderate positions with a markedly pro-European tinge and it is likely that, if he wins the elections, the link with the European Union will once again be a priority objective for London.
Likewise, Stammer has been committed to NATO's strategic purposes, including with respect to Ukraine, and considers the US as a primary ally.
He also expressed strong support for Israel, noting that a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip would embolden Hamas.
On colonial issues, he has spoken out in favor of preserving the sovereignty of the United Kingdom in Gibraltar and safeguarding the interests of British citizens in the Rock.
For his part, the “shadow chancellor”, David Lammy (who has a family from Guyana), has reiterated the Foreign Office's traditional position regarding self-determination in the case of the Falkland Islands.
Keir Stammer's only direct reference to the South Atlantic has revolved around his uncle as a crew member of the frigate HMS Antelope, sunk by the Argentine Air Force in the 1982 conflict.
Whoever the future resident of 10 Downing Street is, there is nothing to suggest that in the short term expectations different from those we have known with London regarding the Malvinas Islands may arise.
However, certain historical antecedents would reflect a greater willingness of Labor governments to reduce disagreements with Argentina than conservative administrations, despite the fact that understandings under the umbrella of sovereignty were reached during the administration of Prime Minister John Major.
And that, the 2016 statement on fishing and other issues was agreed in David Cameron's administration and signed at the beginning of Theresa May.
However, it was during the two stages of Prime Minister Harold Wilson where the most significant negotiation advances were made (1968 Memorandum on the transfer of sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands to Argentina as well as the subsequent proposals presented by the United Kingdom at the end of the government of President Juan Perón).
The visit of President Carlos Menem to London at the invitation of Prime Minister Tony Blair and the symbolic meeting in Puerto Iguazú with President Fernando de la Rúa, are other examples.
As are also the Fisheries agreements of 1990 and Hydrocarbons of 1991.
It is to be hoped that the background negotiated during the governments of Prime Ministers Wilson and Major regarding the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands can serve as a road map for the next British government.
So many decades after the South Atlantic conflict, it is time to promote a more virtuous bilateral relationship and, at the same time, allow for the promotion of a diplomatic process in accordance with the spirit and letter of the relevant resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly.
w