Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Falkland Islands will remain an Overseas Territory.

Yes. We will always resolutely defend the sovereignty and self-determination of the Falkland Islands, as I and other Ministers have made repeatedly clear in the House, and to the Members of the Legislative Assembly and Governor in my regular meetings with them. In line with the democratically expressed wishes of the people of the Falkland Islands - most recently in the 2013 referendum, the Falkland Islands will remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory. The UK Government will always defend the Falkland Islanders' right to determine their own destiny.