LONDON The British government has been accused in Parliament of already agreeing to allow the U.S. to upgrade facilities at its military bases in northern England in support of Washington's controversial plan for a national missile defense (NMD) system.

Defense ministers have been "going to Washington in the past year and a half, and informing the outgoing administration privately that they would be willing to let them upgrade Fylingdale," conservative defense spokesman Iain Duncan-Smith told MPs Monday.

The agreement, he said, was on condition that U.S. officials "did not ask the question before the next general election" in Britain, which is expected to be held in May.

Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labour government was "sacred of denying the United States, for fear of losing influence in Washington," the shadow defense secretary said.

"They are at the same time scared of their own backbenchers, as well as the French and some of their European counterparts, who are opposed to it, that they are going to do something about it," he said.

The accusation that the government has already agreed to back what has been dubbed as "The Son of Star Wars" follows Conservative leader William Hague expressing support for the Nuclear Missile Shield Plan.

In response, Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon denied the charge, insisting that the government was waiting for a decision from the U.S. on whether it is going ahead with the NMD program before responding.

He also criticized Hague's support, saying that he was trying to demonstrate, that under his leadership, there would be an "application for Britain to become the 51st member of the United States."

Foreign affairs spokesman of the Liberal Democrats, Menzies Campbell accused Hoon of being "naive to give support to a unilateral proposal on national defense without taking account of Russian anxiety."

The U.S. NMD program also risked further cuts in strategic nuclear weapons and the potential for a nuclear arms race in Asia, led by China and followed by India and Pakistan, he warned.

(IRNA)