Straw: Missile defence reform needed now

The terrorist atrocities of September 11 have strengthened the case for new forms of missile defence, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today.

The British government has not clarified its position over President Bush’s plans for a ‘‘Son of Star Wars’’ missile defence system, which caused controversy across the world before the hijacked airliner attacks.

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee on US-UK relations, Mr Straw said the Government’s position remained unchanged but added there was an ‘‘overwhelming case for missile defence in principle’’.

He told MPs: ‘‘I think the overall case for new forms of missile defences has been strengthened since September 11, not least because the world is much more aware than it was of the extreme nature of the threats that we can face.’’

The Foreign Secretary said there was a ‘‘relativist argument’’ which said if there were missile systems which were capable of very serious death and destruction, it was ‘‘entirely reasonable’’ that people should try to have defensive systems against them.

Many Labour backbenchers have warned that the scheme could trigger a new arms race.

The government, however, has not clarified its position, insisting that it has yet to receive a definitive proposal from Washington.

But earlier this year Prime Minister Tony Blair’s then press secretary Alastair Campbell described the scheme as ‘‘broadly’’ a good idea.

President Bush’s controversial project is designed to protect the United States from missile attack by rogue states.

Critics have said the case has not been reinforced since September 11 because hijacked airliners rather than missiles were used in the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon.

The £40 billion system, dubbed Son of Star Wars after Ronald Reagan’s similar, but abortive, 1980s programme, would almost certainly require the use of early warning radar facilities at Fylingdales and Menwith Hill, both in Yorkshire.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said later: ‘‘We are not going to put forces in place without the agreement of the United States and a fair understanding about what our troops will do to add to the overall work of the military coalition.’’

Giving evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Mr Straw added that Afghanistan had changed so rapidly over the past 10 days that the military situation was also bound to change rapidly.

Asked by MPs of the latest whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, Mr Straw said: ‘‘I am not going to go into details of intelligence, but I think he is still in Afghanistan, in a narrower area than he was before.’’

Mr Straw said despite reports of some Northern Alliance commanders not wanting Britain to send in troops, their behaviour in the conflict had been ‘‘better than most anticipated’’.

‘‘All of us are aware of the history of the Northern Alliance,’’ Mr Straw told MPs.

‘‘The eyes of the world are watching them, the ears of the world will be listening to them.’’