Downing Street Says » 2004 » August

» Monday, August 23, 2004

Foreign Secretary in Sudan

The Prime Minister's Spokesman said that the Foreign Secretary would visit Khartoum today where he would meet with the President and the Foreign Minister. He would also visit Darfur. He wanted to see the situation on the ground and obviously planned to meet the key players and underline our support for the international process to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. He would also deliver a clear message to the Government of Sudan that they must do more to comply with the UN Security Council Resolution and the commitments that they gave to the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. The PMS said that our policy was to work with the Government of Sudan and the African Union to resolve this crisis. There had to be a political solution to the crisis and the Government of Sudan had to be part of that. We were also encouraged that there were talks taking place in Abuja today between the Government and the militias.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

Prime Minister’s Holiday

Asked if the Prime Minister was back from his holiday the PMS said that she would not comment on the details of the Prime Minister's travel arrangements but we would let people know when he was back.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (19)

Opening of the New Scottish Parliament

Asked why the Prime Minister was snubbing the opening of the Scottish Parliament the PMS told journalists that she would not comment on the Prime Minister's diary.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (13)

Inheritance Tax

Asked if, according to reports, the Government was planning to crack down on the rich the PMS said that this had been dealt with yesterday. The IPPR was a think tank and they had done what think tanks do, which was to put forward proposals. The Government was not part of that and as it was made clear yesterday there was no review of inheritance tax taking place. All taxes were constantly under review but there was no special review of inheritance tax taking place.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

David Blunkett

Asked if the Prime Minister had any plans to meet with David Blunkett on his return the PMS said she had not seen the diary for after his return yet. Asked if David Blunkett had sought a special meeting with the Prime Minister while he was on his holiday the PMS said that she would not comment on the Prime Minister's private holiday.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (7)

Fox Hunting

Asked if there were any plans for the foxhunting bill to come forward any time soon the PMS said that the situation had not changed since the last time the question was asked.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

Road Map

Asked what the Government's attitude was to the US apparently sanctioning the building of 1000 more homes on the West Bank in breach of the specific terms of the Road Map the PMS said that she was not going to comment on that report. However the Government remained committed to the implementation of the Road Map. We had urged the Israeli Government to honour the commitment to freeze settlement construction. Asked if this could be taken as a criticism of the current work the PMS said that our position was as she had stated. In response to further questions the PMS referred journalists to the Foreign Office and reiterated that the Americans were well aware of our commitment to the road map and that they had also stated their commitment to the road map process.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (6)

GCSEs

Asked about the CBI's comments on GCSE standards the PMS that the Government was as committed as the CBI to raising standards in secondary schools. The CBI was part of the consultation group for the Tomlinson report, looking at secondary education, which would be publishing its conclusions soon. The PMS noted that there had been improvements in standards. There were now more pupils emerging from secondary schools with better results than in 1997 and people were well aware of that. This did not mean that anybody was complacent about standards and the Government was as committed as anyone else to raising standards. Asked how their comments suggesting that more and more children were leaving school unable to read and write were not in conflict with this the PMS repeated that the Government's aims were not in conflict with the CBI. One of the reasons the Tomlinson report was set up was to look at secondary education and how improvements could be made.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Migration and Asylum

Asked for a comment on reports suggesting that the Home Office was somehow deploying resources disproportionately the PMS said that a lot of questions were asked - often by journalists - about migration and asylum and Ministers had to have answers to those questions. People were there to provide answers to those questions. Asked if the Government had made any representations to the French Government about a new "al fresco" camp the PMS said that there was no camp as such. Sangatte had been an official asylum centre but since the Home Secretary had secured its closure there had been a number of people sleeping rough in the area, but this was no new Sangatte. We continued to work with the French Government to enforce the rules and any idea that there was a new camp was inaccurate.

Briefing took place at 11:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (2)

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» Monday, August 23, 2004

Foreign Secretary in Sudan

Prime Minister’s Holiday

Opening of the New Scottish Parliament

Inheritance Tax

David Blunkett

Fox Hunting

Road Map

GCSEs

Migration and Asylum

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