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» Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) told journalists that the Prime Minister had spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this afternoon about yesterday's bomb attacks. Prime Minister Singh had said that the Indian people were very grateful for what the Prime Minister had said both yesterday and today. Both Prime Ministers reaffirmed their determination to fight terrorism. It would be an issue to be discussed at the G8 this weekend, which Prime Minister Singh would also attend.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

NatWest Three/Extradition

Asked if the arrangements were nearly identical between the two countries, why was there such pressure for Britain to ratify the treaty if it was roughly the same anyway, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that as he had been saying for the last week, we had to separate out two things. One was the equalisation of the position on extradition in the 2003 Act which brought America into the same evidential basis as 48 other countries which did not need to provide prima facie evidence to the UK. Those countries included: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Lichtenstein, Macedonia, Moldova, New Zealand, Norway, and many others. What the 2003 Act did was equalise the position on extradition, and we did not ask for prima facie evidence from those countries, so the question people had to answer was: why should we uniquely ask it of the US when the US did not ask it of us? In terms of the treaty, the PMOS said that it dealt with a different matter, which was updating the range of offences to take account of internet fraud, etc.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Fundamental Spending Review

The PMOS reminded journalists that the government had been carrying out a fundamental review of government expenditure and the Treasury would publish the first results of that tomorrow. This would include a joint foreward by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Police Mergers/Migrants

Asked if the Government was no longer going ahead with police mergers, the PMOS said that it was a somewhat misleading summary of what Tony McNulty had said. As John Reid had said in June, the fact was that we were not going to force mergers, but what we did need to do was address the tension between local accountability and police effectiveness in light of the HIMC report. Consultations in that process would continue over the summer. Nothing had changed.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Natwest Three

Asked what the hope was for getting bail and whether it would be in the US or UK, the PMOS said that bail, as it would be here, was fundamentally a decision for the court to take. The Attorney General had ascertained with his counterparts in the US that the prosecution were not going to oppose bail. This was an important point, but the conditions of any bail were a matter for the court to decide. Asked whether the government would regard bail to the US as a problem, the PMOS said that he was reluctant to be drawn into hypothecating about what might or might not happen. It was, however, important that people understood the efforts that the government had made to ascertain whether the prosecution would be opposing bail. Asked whether the government had offered any assurances for bail, the PMOS said it was not for the government or the Attorney General to decide the precise conditions of bail here.
Similarly it was not for the US government to set bail conditions in the US. It was a matter for the court. That said the government would be following developments very closely. Asked whether the government was prepared to offer assurances, the PMOS repeated that the government would be following the case very carefully, but we had to recognise that it was for the court to set the conditions and for the court to decide about where people would stay on bail conditions. Asked whether the Attorney General had raised the impact of staying in the US with his US counterparts, the PMOS said, as the Prime Minister had made clear last week, that we had said that we recognised the concern that these people should not be discriminated against whilst waiting trial because they came from the outside the US. It had been important for the government to establish whether the prosecution was going to oppose bail of any kind, but bail conditions remained a matter for the court. Asked whether the government would be represented in the courtroom, the PMOS said that he would not get into designating personnel but they would not be surprised to hear that the government would be following proceedings very closely.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Deputy Prime Minister

Asked what Mr. Prescott was doing in Turkey, the PMOS said that he was representing the Prime Minister by attending an oil pipeline inauguration.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Lord Levy

Asked to comment on Lord Levy's arrest, the PMOS said that it was a matter for the Labour Party. Asked whether the Prime Minister had spoken to Lord Levy today, the PMSO said not as far as he was aware. Asked whether Lord Levy was still a government envoy to the Middle East, the PMOS said that he was.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

ID Cards Bill

Asked if everything was "up for grabs" with regards to ID cards, the PMOS again pointed the lobby to John Reid in the Commons last night where he had intervened to underline that the reports that we were in some way backing away from the ID cards were wrong. Dr. Reid's view was very firmly that the more he saw of the issues that we faced on migration, and other identity issues, the more he believed that ID cards were a crucial part of answering those kinds of questions. They therefore remained broadly on track, as the PMOS had said yesterday, and what there might be was a slight re-sequencing so that we addressed the issue of foreign nationals first, and that was part of the review process. That would be addressed whenever the review was published in the next few weeks.

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Canadian Prime Minister

Asked whether the Prime Minister would discuss Canadian troop levels in Afghanistan with the Canadian Prime Minister, the PMOS said that we welcomed the fact that Canada was playing a role in Afghanistan but

Briefing took place at 12:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

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» Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Mumbai Terrorist Attacks

NatWest Three/Extradition

Fundamental Spending Review

Police Mergers/Migrants

Natwest Three

Deputy Prime Minister

Lord Levy

ID Cards Bill

Canadian Prime Minister

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