Downing Street Says » Budget cuts

» Friday, September 18, 2009

Budget cuts

Asked about the story on the BBC this morning concerning the Chancellor having meetings with departments on where they could make cuts in departmental budgets, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that decisions on public spending were a matter for the Chancellor and he would return to this issue at the Pre-Budget Report (PBR). The PMS added that it was not surprising for the Chancellor to have meetings with Ministers about a range of issues.

Asked if the meetings had begun yet, the PMS repeated that people should not read too much into the fact that the Chancellor was having meetings with departments. He advised people to speak to the Treasury about the agendas of any such meetings. Asked if it was right that the Prime Minister was sitting in on those meetings, the PMS said that people would not expect him to comment on what meetings the Prime Minister did or did not sit in on.

Asked if there had been a new round of meetings in the last few days, the PMS replied that people should talk to the Treasury about what meetings the Chancellor may or may not have had.

Asked about the current position on publishing a Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), the PMS said that the CSR was a matter for the Chancellor. Asked if the Prime Minister had a view on having a CSR, the PMS said that the Prime Minister and Chancellor would look at this at the appropriate moment. Asked if the Prime Minister thought there should be a CSR published this side of a general election, the PMS said that it was a matter for the Chancellor.

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Post a public comment

Name (required)
E-mail (required)
(You must give an email address, but it will not be displayed to the public.)
Website
(You may give your website, and it will be displayed to the public.)

Comments:

This is not a way of contacting the Prime Minister. If you would like to contact the Prime Minister, go to the 10 Downing Street official site.

Privacy note: Shortly after posting, your name and comment will be displayed on the site. This means that people searching for your name on the Internet will be able to find and read your comment.

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.