» Tuesday, February 1, 2005

Northern Ireland

Asked about the outcome between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach had just held a joint doorstep. To summarise the points, they had a briefing from the Chief Constable and his opposite number in Dublin, the Garda Commissioner. As a result of that briefing they were in no doubt as at all that the IRA had been responsible for the bank robbery last year. The Prime Minister stated that, in his view, IRA activity was now the sole obstacle to progress. Therefore what was needed was a clear move on the part of the IRA to cease all paramilitary and criminal activity. The Prime Minister and Taoiseach's precise words could be found on the newswires.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

Incapacity Benefit

Put to him that the Prime Minister had said that people were moved from unemployment benefit to incapacity benefit to reduce unemployment figures and asked when that had stopped, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had been giving his view about what happened under previous administrations.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (26)

Iraqi Elections

Asked if the Government had any clearer figures about the turnout in the elections in Iraq, the PMOS said no. That would be a matter for the Independent Electoral Commission in Iraq. He expected that they would make their view known in the next few days.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Hercules

Asked if we had any further information on the Hercules crash, the PMOS said that there was a British crash investigator out there, obviously assisted by others. As he had said this morning,g after any air crash, be it commercial or military, it always took some time to establish the facts. The problem of doing so was exacerbated by the fact that crash took place out of our area of control and also in a hostile environment. Therefore the difficulties should not be under-estimated. People should not expect instant results on this, but the speed of the investigation was a matter for the crash investigator. That was the best guidance he could give.

Briefing took place at 15:45 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Hercules Crash update

Asked if there was any further news regarding the Hercules crash, and also if there was a flight data recorder on board, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he did not have any further updates. The MOD hoped to confirm details of those presumed dead at 1200 today, but apart from that, the rest of the information was down to the Accident Investigator who was involved with the crash. The PMOS also explained that the reason why this crash was proving difficult was because the location where the crash occurred was not in our area of control, and was considered a hostile environment, so extra care had to be taken.

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

President Bush

Asked for some further details about the Prime Minister's conversation yesterday with President Bush, the PMOS said whilst he would not brief in full, it could be read that Iraq elections made up some part of the conversation. Satisfaction had been expressed about the outcome, in terms of both the turnout of voters across Iraq and also the very real, determined efforts that people in all sections of Iraq had made to vote.

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

Sudan

Asked if Britain believed that the International Criminal Court was the correct forum for those accused of abuse in Darfur, the PMOS replied that to begin with, we had to study the International Commission Report very carefully. We were very concerned by the findings that Sudan's government and pro government militias had committed serious violations of international human rights, and we warned the Sudanese government when the Prime Minister visited Sudan, that international attention would not disappear from this issue. There were discussions planned at the Security Council, and there were likely to be more planned. Therefore, it would be better to wait and see what the Security Council advised.

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

Animal Rights

Asked about the apparent contradictions of opinion between Hazel Blears and Patricia Hewitt regarding arrests of animal rights activists, the PMOS repeated his words of yesterday, which were he was not getting drawn into a hypothetical discussion. He pointed out that the control orders that had been set out last week were only to be used in extreme circumstances, and it would depend on the nature of the offence.

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

Householder Defence

Asked if the Prime Minister would admit he was wrong when he said the law should be changed regarding the home defending issue, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had said the law should be reviewed. What was important, as the DPP had said this morning, was to keep a sense of perspective about how many people had been prosecuted; the figures were 11 people in the last 15 years. What the law allowed people to do was to respond instinctively to a situation. What it did not allow was people who acted maliciously or with intent, but there was a very clear distinction. Ken McDonald made it clear this morning when he said that the law was on the side on householders, and prosecutions of householders who had attacked burglars were extremely rare. Unless there had been wholly excessive force against an intruder, the CPS had declined to prosecute those who had seriously injured or even killed a burglar. This was also backed up by Chris Fox, the President of ACPO.

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

Householder Defence

Asked if the Prime Minister would admit he was wrong when he said the law should be changed regarding the home defending issue, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had said the law should be reviewed. What was important, as the DPP had said this morning, was to keep a sense of perspective about how many people had been prosecuted; the figures were 11 people in the last 15 years. What the law allowed people to do was to respond instinctively to a situation. What it did not allow was people who acted maliciously or with intent, but there was a very clear distinction. Ken McDonald made it clear this morning when he said that the law was on the side on householders, and prosecutions of householders who had attacked burglars were extremely rare. Unless there had been wholly excessive force against an intruder, the CPS had declined to prosecute those who had seriously injured or even killed a burglar. This was also backed up by Chris Fox, the President of ACPO.

The PMOS said the Prime Minister had been reflecting a degree of public confusion, hence the recent debate resulting in new guidelines, and the leaflet that was produced today by ACPO and the CPS.

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

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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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