Downing Street Says

Asked for details on the conference the Prime Minister referred to in his speech this morning, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) replied that the Prime Minister s view was that it would be a good idea for world leaders to get together, however it will be important that when they do get together they had something of substance to discuss. We were now clearly in a position where most of the major economies had announced, or were in the process of announcing what immediate action they were taking to deal with the financial situation. Therefore were world leaders to get together, the sensible thing from the Prime Minister s point of view was for them to discuss how we now move forward and how reform the international financial system to make it relevant for the conditions we faced in the 21st Century. That was why he said this morning that there was a case for considering something similar to the Bretton Woods conference that took place in the 1940s. We were in discussion with our international partners, the G7 and other partners, as to when and where such a conference might take place.

Asked if we were anticipating a G7 leaders meeting this weekend, the PMS replied that there was a meeting of G7 Finance Ministers on Saturday, and most of the G7 countries had now announced significant action that was being taken in relation to immediate issues. Clearly if we were to have a meeting to discuss Bretton Woods, this would require some preparation.

Asked if the Prime Minister would be taking any proposals to the European Council, or a report of how our experiences had gone down, the PMS replied that we might be able to say more about the EU Summit tomorrow. Clearly they would want to have a discussion about the current situation following on from the discussion that took place yesterday in Paris for those member states that were there. But in the Prime Minister s view this was also an opportunity to have a discussion about some of the issues that he discussed in his speech this morning around what the future reforms of the international financial system might be.

Asked if any timeframe had been put on how long these banks might be partially nationalised, the PMS replied that the Chancellor answered that comprehensively this morning, and there was nothing further to add. The Government was not in the business of owning and controlling banks on a long-term basis, but we would take whatever action we needed in order to maintain the stability of our financial system.

Asked further about the European Council, the PMS Spokesman replied that he was sure there would be discussion about all of these issues. One particular issue that the Prime Minister thought should be implemented immediately was the idea of a college of regulators, and rather than having a single global regulator that would involve regulators in relation to individual financial institutions getting together, meeting regularly, exchanging information, and looking at institutions on a global basis.

Put that the British Bankers Association had asked the Culture Committee to investigate the alleged links to the BBC, and in particularly to Robert Peston, and asked if the Prime Minister was sympathetic to this, the PMS replied that this was a matter for the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to decide to consider what action if any they proposed to take.

Put that this was specifically about the BBC being a publicly funded organisation who should not be making announcements ahead of official announcements and causing damage to the economy, the PMS replied that there were well established Stock Exchange rules in relation to the publication of information in relation to publicly traded companies, and it was really a matter for the FSA to consider what if any action they felt it was necessary to take at the moment.

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» Monday, October 13, 2008

Economy

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