A Keighley anti-war campaigner warns people should be aware that a missile defence system originally destined for Eastern Europe could in future come to Britain.

Helen John was speaking in the wake of last week’s announcement that plans to site Interceptor missiles in Poland and the Czech Republic have been shelved.

In August 2008 North America signed a deal with Poland to locate 10 Interceptors at a base near the Baltic Sea and also agreed with the Czech Republic to build a radar station on its territory.

The proposals provoked fierce opposition from Russia, which regarded the missile shield as a threat to its own sovereignty.

But the US has now changed its plans, saying it can use ship-based missiles to defend against what it sees as a potential threat from Iran.

Mrs John, who lives in Lawkholme, emphasised that the original missile system had been mothballed, not scrapped.

She said this was partly because so many people in Poland and the Czech Republic knew about the plans and mobilised to stop them.

She said the British public needed to be similarly aware that America might try to site the weapons on British soil.

She said: “People have to make a decision on whether or not they will blindly let the Government lead them even deeper into its support of America.

“Each one of us has got to take that moral responsibility – we cannot leave it to our politicians.”

She said she believed the Americans had invested too much money in the Interceptor system to abandon it completely.

Mrs John has previously been prosecuted for protesting outside the US spy base at Menwith Hill, North Yorkshire.

Dave Webb, convenor of the Yorkshire Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: “Our fellow activists in Poland and the Czech Republic have led the way in their opposition and have demonstrated that US Missile Defence can be stopped.

“Nevertheless, we must not be complacent.

“Recent reports suggest that Washington has been looking for alternative sites including the Balkans, Israel and Turkey.

“We will continue our campaign against US Missile Defence and will not cease until the system is obsolete both in Yorkshire and the rest of the world.”