LONDON – Britain’s government has shut down its 50 year old UFO hotline because of costs!

Britain’s Ministry of Defense had a hotline operating, off and on, since 1959. It’s purpose was for citizens to report any possible UFO sightings, so the military could investigate.

But the department is no longer. The phone line has been shut down, as well as the e-mail account, which now auto-replies that it “will no longer respond to reported UFO sightings or investigate them.”

The military does not state whether they do or do not support the belief in UFOs and extraterrestrials. They would only speak on their budgetary reasoning. Of the over 12,000 investigated UFO sightings, not a single one proved to be a national security threat.

Said a Ministry of Defense spokesperson, “None of the thousands of UFO sightings reported over the years have ever provided substantiated proof of the existence of extraterrestrials. There is no defense value in investigating UFO reports.”

In these hard times, the government could use the $73,000 a year the closure will save. However, many citizens are upset over the decision.

Roy Lake, founder of the London UFO Studies group, said, “I think it’s a stupid thing to do because this could create a threat to national security. We take this quite seriously. I think the government knows damn well what’s going on up there, and they’re covering it up.”

LONDON – Researchers believed a five-fold increase in UFO sightings in 1996 was due to the screening of TV series “The X-Files”.

As part of a project between the Ministry of Defense and The National Archives, the MoD has been releasing records of UFO sightings for public viewing.

While the sightings didn’t vary much in content, researchers are paying attention to the numbers. In 1996, the number of sightings jumped from 117 to 609, a five-fold increase!

The number remained high in 1997, at 425, but dropped down to the average number of 193 in 1998.

It is believed there may be a link between the increase in sightings and the population’s exposure to UFO theories through the TV series “The X-Files”, which reached it’s height in popularity in 1996.

Dr. David Clarke, a UFO expert and lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, said, “I think there has got to be some kind of connection – it was a year when people were absolutely obsessed with UFOs and aliens.

“Obviously, films and TV programs raise public awareness of UFOs and it’s fascinating to see how that appears to lead more people to report what they see to the authorities.”

SUNDERLAND, UK – The current leader of England’s Conservative Party has vowed to release secret UFO files if he becomes prime minister.

At a meeting in Tynemouth, North Tyneside, David Cameron vowed that he would be “open and frank” about any government knowledge of UFOs or extraterrestrial contact.

Cameron was responding to a question from the audience: “Do you agree with me that the British people have a right to know if we have been visited, and if so, when you become prime minister will you seek to lift the veil of secrecy and give the public the truth that they deserve?”

Cameron replied, “I think we should be a open as possible, so I would be quite happy to give you a guarantee that if I became prime minister I would always be entirely open and frank about these things. I don’t think any of us have any clue whether there’s intelligent life out there and it is certainly not something that any government should seek to hide from anyone.”

England is considered a hotspot for alien contact, as an overwhelming majority of reported crop circles occur there. The Ministry of Defense has already released secret files in 2008 that covered UFO sightings from 1978 to 1987.