Britain has agreed "in principle" to a US request to site the interceptor missiles at an existing early warning radar centre in Fylingdales, Yorkshire, northern England, the Independent on Sunday reported.

According to the paper, agreement was reached at a meeting last May in Washington attended by senior officials from the British embassy and the US State Department.

However the British diplomats asked that no official announcement be made until after Blair faces a general election likely in the middle of next year, the newspaper said, without citing its sources.

It is already known that the United States will use the early warning radar at Fylingdales for the new defence system, but nothing has been said publicly about missiles being stationed there.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said no decisions had been made.

"The UK has not yet decided whether we need our own missile defence. This is a decision for the future when the US system has further evolved," a spokesman said.

If Britain does accommodate the missiles, it could prompt difficulties for Blair within his ruling Labour Party, many lawmakers from which are already angry at the premier's backing for the US-led war in Iraq and might blanch at closer military ties with Washington.

The system, designed to detect and then destroy incoming missiles through interceptor missiles, has been devised by the administration of US President George W. Bush.

It is dubbed "Son of Star Wars" after former president Ronald Reagan's planned Strategic Defence Initiative anti-missile system, dubbed "Star Wars" at the time.

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