Downing Street Says » 2005 » November

» Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Pensions

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) explained for clarification following this morning's briefing that he had re-interrogated the figures. The 10% figure for the estimated turnover of staff who would be on the new scheme, not the old scheme, remained correct. That meant, as the Prime Minister said in his speech this morning that it would be a bit more than a decade for a majority to be on the new scheme. Not 70% as the PMOS had said yesterday. The 70% figure had arisen from a misunderstanding that came about somewhere between Malta, Barcelona and London. The PMOS apologised for any confusion that had arisen.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Pensions

Put that on Sunday, journalists had been told that within 10 years, only 30% of public sectors workers would be in the old pensions scheme, and the Prime Minister had said something similar yesterday too, it was assumed therefore that we were confident with those numbers, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said: yes. The position was that there was a turnover of 10% of public sector workers every year, and the vast majority of public sector workers within 10 years would be on the new scheme.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Europe Rebate

Asked if the Prime Minister's position was as Sir Digby Jones had put it to him that Britain would give up the rebate if and only if there was a commensurate and equal giving up of the agricultural subsidy that France got and whether this was a significant hardening of his previous position, the PMOS said we should go back to first principles on this: the abatement was there because of the distortion of the budget as a result of CAP.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Nuclear Power

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Alan Johnson about moving to nuclear power without the Government having to pay, the PMOS said Alan Johnson had said what Alan Johnson had said.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (3)

CBI Speech

Put to him that given how security conscious we all were these days how concerned was the Prime Minister about this morning, the PMOS said that security was a matter we took very seriously, but this was a matter for the police and those whose job it was to look after security. The Prime Minister's main concern as you had seen was, thanks to those at the CBI, to be able to deliver his speech. He had received a standing ovation at the end of it so what was there to complain about!

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Smoking

Asked if the Prime Minister thought a total ban on smoking in public places was wrong in principle, the PMOS replied that what we had was a situation where there was a balance between the rights of non-smokers and the desire for people to smoke. What we had to try and do was achieve a balance, and that was what the Government had done. As people knew, what it would result in was a situation where smoking was banned in most public and working places. Therefore, what we had tried to do was approach this in a way that balanced the two rights.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Reshuffle

Asked when the rest of the reshuffle would happen, the PMOS said that we had not forgotten even if they thought we had. The PMOS said it was take as long as it took.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

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