Downing Street Says ... Every day the Prime Minister’s Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as ‘the lobby’ for a topical chat, or ‘briefing’.

Every day the Prime Minister's Spokesman meets a small coterie of political journalists known as 'the lobby' for a topical chat, or 'briefing'.

Downing Street Says... is an unofficial site that lets you read summaries of these briefings and add your own comments. Want to know more?

» Monday, January 5, 2009

Savings/Public Investment

Asked about taxation of savings, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) said that savers benefited from the low inflation environment we were seeing at the moment, including the price of many goods coming down, which protected the real value of savings. Since 1997 we had introduced significant support to help savers with the introduction [...]

Israel/Gaza

Asked if the Prime Minister believed that the continued action was proportionate and justified, the PMS said that, as the Prime Minister said yesterday to Andrew Marr, the key focus was on what we could do in order to help the situation in Gaza rather than getting into a blame game. The Prime Minister [...]

Economy/Recession

Asked to explain the Prime Minister s comments to Andrew Marr yesterday that only 1 billion of the Government s 18 billion package had been spent, the PMS said that the VAT cost of 12.5 billion for 13 months, which was around 1 billion a month, had already come into effect [...]

Misc

Asked if there was Ministerial backing for a third runway at Heathrow, the PMS said that there were a number of proposals relating both to the future of Heathrow and more generally to transport infrastructure. This was something that the Department for Transport was considering and as and when we were in a position [...]

» Thursday, December 18, 2008

Iraq Inquiry

Asked whether an inquiry into the Iraq war was likely, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the Prime Minister had set out our position succinctly during the debate when he said that this was a matter that we would consider once our troops had come home. We were not at that [...]

Car Industry

Asked for some clarity on whether there would be any kind of rescue package for the car industry, the PMS said that Lord Mandelson had had discussions with the owners and management of Jaguar Land Rover. He had been clear that the Government did not have an open chequebook to bail out ailing companies and [...]

Energy Conference

Asked for more details on the energy conference, the PMS said it was a meeting of Energy Ministers from a variety of countries and would be chaired by Ed Miliband. We saw the conference as a continuation of a process that began in Jeddah and as the Prime Minister had set out, not only in [...]

Archbishop of Canterbury

Put that the Prime Minister’s response to the Archbishop’s comments had been quite warm and generous and did the Prime Minister speak to the Archbishop regularly, the PMS said that they did. original source.

Plastic Bags Announcement

Asked about Jane Kennedy s announcement on plastic bags, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) said that the Minister for Farming and Environment, Jane Kennedy, and Britain s leading supermarkets had agreed a 50% cut in the number of carrier bags given out by spring 2009. This was a bold commitment that would result [...]

Archbishop of Canterbury

Asked for the Prime Minister s response to the Archbishop s comments this morning, the PMS said that the Archbishop of Canterbury had expressed his views on a number of subjects over the course of the year and on the issue of the economy the Government s position remained the same; we would do whatever [...]

Airport Runway Proposals

Asked about the Government s current position on the proposed second runway at Gatwick, the PMS said that the Government s position remained as set out in the 2003 Air Transport White Paper, which concluded that the case for the second runway was not as strong as the options at Stanstead and Heathrow. Asked if the [...]

Iraq

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with the opposition party that now was the time for an inquiry into the Iraq war, the PMS said that we did not think that it was right to make any announcements on the subject whilst the Armed Forces were still operational in Iraq. Asked why it was okay to [...]

Car Industry

Asked when help for the car industry could be expected, the PMS said that Lord Mandelson had said that we were looking at the sector as a whole and that discussions had taken place with the owners and management of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) as well as others in the motor manufacturing sector. Lord Mandelson [...]

» Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Car Industry:

Asked if any aid for the car industry would be offered this week, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that the Secretary of State had had meetings with representatives of the car industry, the representatives had put forward proposals and we would look at them. As and when there was anything to say Lord [...]

Original PMOS briefings are © Crown Copyright. Crown Copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen's Printer for Scotland. Click-use licence number C02W0004089. Material is reproduced from the original 10 Downing Street source, but may not be the most up-to-date version of the briefings, which might be revised at the original source. Users should check with the original source in case of revisions. Comments are © Copyright contributors. Everything else is © Copyright Downing Street Says.

» Monday, January 5, 2009

Savings/Public Investment

Israel/Gaza

Economy/Recession

Misc

» Thursday, December 18, 2008

Iraq Inquiry

Car Industry

Energy Conference

Archbishop of Canterbury

Plastic Bags Announcement

Archbishop of Canterbury

Airport Runway Proposals

Iraq

Car Industry

» Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Car Industry:

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