A MOTHER from the Falkland Islands who now lives in Worcester is pleased patriotic islanders have voted overwhelmingly to stay part of the UK in their referendum.

Glenda Ford, who was born in Stanley in the Falklands, moved with her husband to the UK in 1978 and now lives in St John’s, Worcester, but returns regularly to see her family there.

Of the 1,517 people who voted, 1,513 were in favour of the Falklands remaining a UK overseas territory.

Although Mrs Ford was not able to vote herself because she lives in the UK her parents, Bill and Evelyn Poole, still live there and voted ‘yes’ to remaining part of the UK. She said she would have voted the same way had the family stayed.

Mrs Ford, whose husband Barry and two children, Stephen, 44, and Deborah, 41, were also born in the islands, said: “They have all voted a big yes and I would have voted that way. “To be quite honest, Argentina don’t acknowledge our vote anyway. Argentina will never ever drop its claim. They just keep rattling the cage and now they believe there’s oil they’re rattling it a bit more. They keep niggling all the time.”

However, she said the turnout and the result were symbolic of feeling on the islands.

“The turnout (more than 90 per cent) was just amazing,” she said. “Almost everybody voted ‘yes’ and it was a really big occasion. Everybody really wanted to show the world how British we are. Some people say the Falklands is more British than Britain.”

Mrs Ford originally left the islands with her husband Barry before the Falklands War in 1982, fearing for the future of the islands. But she said she knew Britain would act when the islands were invaded.

In yesterday’s vote, the question asked of the people was ‘Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?’

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the people of the Falklands had a right to determine their own future and that this right should be respected.

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said the islanders’ wishes was not relevant in what is a terriorial issue.