国际英语新闻：British MPs call for rethink on "special relationship" with U.S.

The committee's report comes only weeks before a general election in which future defense policy will be an issue.

Chancellor of the exchequer Alistair Darling forecast in his budget last Wednesday that this year's public sector borrowing requirement will be 167 billion pounds (240 billion U.S. dollars), and pledged that it would be halved within four years.

He warned that large budget cuts in public spending would be needed to achieve this, and defense spending would be one of the areas targeted.

Significant strategic projects such as the two 65,000 ton aircraft carriers on order, on one of which construction has started, and the like-for-like replacement of Britain's independent nuclear deterrent Trident submarine fleet, as well as jet aircraft orders and military vehicle replacement projects could all be considered for the axe in a bid to save money by whichever party forms the next government.

The Ministry of Defense published a Green Paper on defense last month, a step on the road towards a full-scale strategic defense review that will choose the path that British defense policy will take in the coming decades and which called for radical change.

At the same time, the professional heads of all three armed services each spoke separately about the need for a reassessment of strategic priorities in a world where multinational terrorism, globalization and the rise of the BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- look set to redefine the international community in the 21st century.