Straw makes first US trip

"Son of Star Wars" sparked Greenpeace protests

Jack Straw is making his first visit to the USA as UK Foreign Secretary in the wake of calls for him to oppose the American "Son of Star Wars" missile defence plans.

Britain's attitude to National Missile Defence (NMD) is thought to have been on the agenda when Mr Straw met his US counterpart Colin Powell on Wednesday.

It is impossible for the government to express support for plans that do not exist

Robin Cook

The one day visit to Washington comes after Labour MPs pressed the foreign secretary to tell the US that NMD could jeopardise rather than improve world peace.

And the issue again came up during prime minister's questions.

Leader of the Commons Robin Cook - standing in for Tony Blair who is at the Northern Ireland talks at Weston Park in Staffordshire - was pushed to declare government support for NMD.

But he said: "It is impossible for the government to express support for plans that do not exist.

"The only specific proposal at the present moment is to provide missile interceptors and radar in Alaska."

Concern noted

Mr Straw told MPs on Tuesday he recognised their concerns about the missile shield plans, which could involve the use of some UK radar bases.

But he refused to commit the government either way until the American plans were made clear.

He said that Britain shared the US concern that the threats posed to Western nations had changed significantly in the last 30 years and responses need examining.

Straw met his US counterpart, Colin Powell

Despite that caution, Britain is seen as being warmer towards the plans than other European states.

In May, the prime minister's official spokesman told reporters the missile shield, intended to stop attacks from "rogue states", was "broadly a good idea".

And the government has denied Conservative claims that it has made a secret deal to support the NMD programme.

Critics of the scheme worry it would mean scrapping the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and could lead to another arms race.

Last week, Greenpeace activists invaded the Menwith Hill satellite base in Yorkshire to protest against NMD.

Mr Straw is meeting both American Secretary of State General Powell and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said missile defence would be discussed.

"They will speak about the range of their proposals," she said.

"There is no specific proposal yet so it is very premature to look at that."

Get-to-know-you visit

The spokeswoman said the visit was a "getting-to-know-you" trip, providing the first formal bilateral talks with General Powell.

After the meeting Mr Straw was praised by Mr Powell, who said: "As always Britain's commitment to addressing such diverse areas of international concern as the Balkans and Iraq is deeply valued by me and my colleagues throughout the US government.

Prescott will press the Japanese on Kyoto

"The president shares that view and he looks forward to his upcoming visit to Britain when he will meet the Queen."

Mr Straw meanwhile had words of praise for Mr Cook, who preceded him as foreign secretary.

"He carried out his position as foreign secretary in Tony Blair's first government with very great dedication and a very close relationship with the US."

Mr Straw said he and Mr Powell had useful talks and had discussed the Macedonian crisis, Northern Ireland and President George W Bush's visit next week to Britain.

Meanwhile Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott flew to Japan to try to persuade the government there to join the Europeans in ratifying the Kyoto Treaty on climate change.

President Bush has caused disquiet in Europe by refusing to endorse the treaty, which will be discussed next week at a conference on global warming.

The Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "They will be discussing ways progress can be made."