Downing Street Says » 2007 » March

» Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Trident

Asked to confirm that the Prime Minister, at PMQs today, was not agreeing with John Denham MP that there should be another vote before any contracts are awarded, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the future would have to look after itself. Today what Parliament was deciding was to make the decision to replace Trident or not. It needed to make a decision now otherwise the process could not begin.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Northern Ireland

Asked about the meeting between the Prime Minister, Mr Paisley and Mr Adams, the PMOS said that the meetings had been a chance for the Prime Minister to get their assessment of where we were after the election, working towards the 26th March and to see what we need to do before the 26th March. He added that everyone now realised that we were serious about the 26th March and therefore a decision will have to be made. It is up to the parties to make that decision. They know what the message from the doorstep was. Asked about the nominations deadline, the PMOS said that that would come in due course.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (0)

Trident

Put to him that on a situation as critical as the security of the nation, PPSs being offered an amnesty if they abstained rather than vote against the Government was a sign that the Government was in disarray and had lost its authority, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that that this was not the case. There were a number of PPSs who were very much in favour of Government policy and would also not be present to vote for various reasons. The important thing was that the Government's position on this issue was very clear. We had to take a decision now, because not to do so was equally taking the decision not to have a nuclear deterrent in 17 years time.

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

Committee on Standards in Public Life

Put to him that the Prime Minister had decided not to renew Alistair Graham's tenure, and that because the decision had been taken so late it looked likely that they would be unable to get a replacement in time, and asked if it was the Government's intention to look at the reform of the whole system and possibly merge it with other bodies, the PMOS replied that no other person in this position had been renewed for a second term. This had been acknowledged by Alistair Graham, and the appointments process would go ahead.

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

Council Tax

Asked if the Government recognised anything in the leaked council tax report in the Times today to be remotely accurate, the PMOS replied that since we had not received the report, that would be difficult. Asked if No10 agreed that a higher band was a good idea in principle, the PMOS replied that it would be better to receive the report first and then comment on it.

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

Northern Ireland

Asked if the Prime Minister was meeting with Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams following PMQs, and would there be any breakthrough, the PMOS replied that today was a chance to get their assessment of the election. The important message had been that people wanted them to get on with it and deal with local issues. They would make up their own minds and we had to let them do that.

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

Nurses Pay

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that nurses in Gordon Brown's constituency should be paid more that nurses in his own constituency, the PMOS replied that devolution gave the Scottish Executive the ability to make its own decisions in these matters. In terms of the overall situation, people should notice that with various results from the Agenda for Change working their way through, the overall average increase of nurses pay in this part of the country would still be around 4%. And the average nurses salary would now be somewhere around £32,000.

Briefing took place at 9:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (8)

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