Downing Street Says » 2006

» Friday, May 12, 2006

EU-Latin America Summit in Vienna

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that when the Prime Minister arrived in Vienna, he had met the Taoiseach informally. He then went to a session with Prime Minister Bachelet of Chile, and he then met President Lula of Brazil. The Prime Minister would also meet President Fox of Mexico, as well as Chancellor Merkel. The Prime Minister had attended the first working session on climate change and energy this morning, and he would have informal discussions with several other leaders over a lunch. This afternoon, the Prime Minister would attend a working session on trade, and there would also be a session with President Barosso of the European Commission as well. The PMOS said that as people could see, he had also done a short press conference, with the main focus being on trade, and pensions.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Pensions

Asked what the Prime Minister had said about pensions, the PMOS replied that what reflected the Prime Minister's view was that we needed to take a step back and recognise that deciding the future of pensions was one of the biggest decisions and issues that the Government could face. With the help of Lord Turner, however, we did now have a basis for moving forward within Government. The basis was that the Prime Minister believed this would form the core of the consensus in the country as a whole about the way to move forward on pensions. The final details were being worked out, but we would see again the link with earnings within the broad timescale as outlined by Lord Turner. The PMOS said that he was not going to get into further details, as the final details were still being arranged, but there was a broad agreement within Government, and it was a significant achievement by any standard.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Human Rights Act

Asked if the Human Rights Act had been abused by some criminals and lawyers, the PMOS replied that as he had said yesterday afternoon, first and foremost, we had to address the question that had been raised by legal experts, that we should not mix up the Human Rights Act and the European Convention, and we had to be careful about that. Secondly, we should recognise that other countries in Europe were signatories to both, and they did not have the problems that we had. These were matters that in particular cases were being tested before the courts, and the Prime Minister had made clear his determination to do everything to ensure that public safety and public concern on these matters was addressed, and he would continue to do so.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

President Chavez-Latin America

Put that last time President Chavez visited in 2001 he saw The Queen and the Prime Minister, but this time, he was not doing so, and was the complete breakdown of communication with a major oil producer a good thing, the PMOS replied that in terms of the visit, it was a private visit, and he was not going to comment on private visits. With regards to Latin America as a whole, yes, countries like Venezuela were important countries, but we should not lose sight of the overall picture in Latin America, and the overall direction there. If people looked at the role President Lula, or President Fox, for example, was playing, it was a vitally important role. The dialogue took place at many different levels throughout Latin America, and we should not lose sight of that picture.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

» Thursday, May 11, 2006

Human Rights

Asked about Dr. Reid's recent statement about the Afghan hijackers, and did it reflect anything that was said in Cabinet and was there going to be anything done about it, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that what we could do about it was appeal, as we had done. That was why, as people would expect, the PMOS could not comment further on what Dr. Reid had said about the particular case. In general terms, however, the PMOS pointed journalists back to what the Prime Minister had said at the press conference, which was that if someone had committed a serious offence as a foreigner, then the belief that the public would have was that they should not be able to stay in Britain. In this particular case, since we were going to appeal, the PMOS could not comment any further.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Terror

Asked if he could confirm claims that there were 900 terror suspects in the UK, the PMOS said that we never speculated on the precise numbers of suspects. All we had said was that there were many, but he didn't want to get into the numbers game.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

John Hutton-Pensions

Asked if John Hutton was "frozen out" of this morning's meetings and kept in an anti-room in Downing Street after being told he was not required, as was reported in the Evening Standard tonight, and did he assert that the Turner Report be delivered in full to give the Prime Minister victory, the PMOS said that he was not going to give a running commentary on the discussions on pensions. The time to talk about that was when the final decisions were announced. As people knew, we did give a welcome to the Turner Report and that remained the case. Regarding John Hutton, the PMOS said that the analysis contained in the Evening Standard was wrong. Mr. Hutton was an integral part of the discussions on pensions, and was an integral part of the decision-making process. As was his right as the DWP Secretary of State, he had done a lot of very good work in shaping our response to the Turner Report.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Afghan Hijackers

Put to him that the Prime Minister had said after the 7/7 bombing that should legal obstacles arise, the Government would legislate further including amending the human rights act in respect of the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights and asked if there had been thought given to amending the Human Rights Act in relation to deportations, the PMOS said that firstly, as had been indicated by Tony McNulty last night, the Home Office were thinking about appealing on the case of the Afghan hijackers so he had to be careful what he said. There seemed to a misinterpretation about whether the Human Rights Act or the ECHR applied in these cases.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

» Wednesday, May 10, 2006

EU Commission report

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that the Prime Minister had welcomed the Agenda for Europe document that was published by the EU Commission today. It chimed with the vision that the Prime Minister had set out in his June speech to the European Parliament which came immediately after the French and Danish referendums in which he had talked about the needs to concentrate on the context within Europe, not the text. In other words, on delivering on issues such as the single market and economic reform within Europe to show real delivery for citizens, not the constitution. That vision was further defined at Hampton Court at our special summit, and was echoed yesterday by Chancellor Merkel, who had said that her number one priority in Europe was completing the single market. The PMOS said that what the document today showed was the dynamic within Europe had changed, and it would never be the same again, and there was a new consensus emerging as the document made clear. It went back to the Prime Minister's speech, but it was also the result of our successful EU Presidency.

Briefing took place at 10:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Guantanamo Bay

Asked if the Prime Minister shared Lord Goldsmith's disapproval of Guantanamo Bay, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he would simply refer journalists to what the Prime Minister had said at his monthly press conference, where he once again talked about why he believed that Guantanamo Bay should be put on some sort of proper judicial footing. That had been his position all along. Asked if he thought it should be closed, the PMOS said that, as the Prime Minister had said on Monday, there was a genuine dilemma in that the United States had good reason to believe that these people posed a threat and therefore to simply release them was not a practical solution. However there should be a proper judicial process. Questioned further, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had always said that it was an anomaly and there should be a proper judicial process in place.

Briefing took place at 10:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

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.

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» Friday, May 12, 2006

EU-Latin America Summit in Vienna

Pensions

Human Rights Act

President Chavez-Latin America

» Thursday, May 11, 2006

Human Rights

Terror

John Hutton-Pensions

Afghan Hijackers

» Wednesday, May 10, 2006

EU Commission report

Guantanamo Bay

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