Falklands tension set to rise with visit of defence committee MPs The arrival on the Falklands of Prince William, in his role as a helicopter pilot, has already created tension between the UK and Argentina. MPs from a parliamentary committee that oversees defence matters are to visit the Falklands next month in a move that is likely to heighten tensions between Britain and Argentina over the islands. Members of the defence select committee are expected to visit military installations on the islands, where a garrison of more than 1,000 troops is stationed at Mount Pleasant Complex, 35 miles (56km) from the capital, Stanley. The MPs will also visit the crews who are manning the RAF aircraft on the islands. Last week, Argentina accused Britain of deploying a nuclear submarine near the islands and "militarising" the south Atlantic. It lodged a formal complaint at the United Nations. The Argentinian president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, said that Britain's dispatch of a modern destroyer, HMS Dauntless, to replace an older vessel, and the deployment of Prince William in his role as a search and rescue helicopter pilot, were provocations that presented a "grave risk for international security." The prince's posting has also been defended as part of a normal squadron rotation. The chairman of the defence select committee, James Arbuthnot, told the House of Commons last month that Argentina "should be in no doubt" of Britain's resolve to hold on to the Falklands. "If the Falkland Islands were by any chance to be retaken by Argentina, we would take it back," he said. Argentina's transport workers' union, which represents dock workers and others, said on Tuesday it would boycott vessels flying the British flag to protest against the UK's "militaristic pretensions" in the South Atlantic. "As of today we have decided to boycott any vessel with the English flag, with the invented Falklands' flag, or registered under any of the convenience flags from the English pirates (Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Panama, Malta, etc.)," said the Argentine Confederation of Transport Workers in a statement.