President George W Bush last night held telephone discussions with Tony Blair ahead of a major US policy announcement on the controversial national missile defence system.

Bush called the major world leaders, including German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Canadian premier Jean Chretien and President Jacques Chirac of France, to give them advance notice of the speech he will deliver today.

EU leaders have said that they cannot take a decision on whether to support the US plans or not until they see more details of the plans, which are opposed by Russia and China.

It is understood that the technology will be known simply as "missile defence system" - dropping the word "national" from the title in an attempt to include the US's allies.