Downing Street Says

» Monday, September 14, 2009

Spending

Asked who would handle a review on ID cards and Trident and what the terms of reference would be, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said he would not characterise it as a review. Lord Mandelson had spoken in general terms this morning. There were tough choices to be made in public spending. The priority had been to keep spending during the current period. The Government was focused on halving the deficit and protecting front line services. This was an important priority.

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed that cutting Trident would save less money than some people thought, the PMS said that the Government position on Trident remained the same.

Asked if the Government position had changed on whether scrapping ID cards would save money, the PMS said that Lord Mandelson had spoken in general terms this morning and had not made any firm pledges.

Asked when the Government would make decisions about spending cuts, the PMS said the Budget and Pre-Budget Report were the focus of the decision making process.

Asked if the Prime Minister had a problem with the word cuts’, the PMS said the Prime Minister was focused on the parameters of the tough choices that needed to be made. As the Prime Minister had said in his G20 speech, the Government would shift resources from areas where it could achieve greater efficiency, reduce costs where possible, sell assets we no longer needed and give priority to investments that could secure the jobs of the future.

Asked if the Government would make cuts in areas that were less of a priority, the PMS said that some Departments had already reduced expenditure.

Put that there were problems between old’ and new’ Labour on this issue, the PMS said it would not be a matter of political tags, rather a matter of making the right decisions for the country and acknowledging the success the Government had achieved in attacking the deficit and being increasingly efficient in public sector terms.

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