» Tuesday, May 22, 2007

HIPS

Asked if there had been a bit of a cave in on the Home Information Packs (HIPs), the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS), replied that this not the case. The courts had to be taken account of, and this was a postponement - nothing more, nothing less.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comment (1)

Foreign Criminals

Asked what we were now saying about the new number of foreign convicted criminals, four times larger the number John Reid had told Parliament there were, the PMOS replied that the important thing was what we were doing to deal with the problem, and we were dealing with it. The Prime Minister had pointed out that in the past there had been no numbers for these figures at all. We were lifting the stones, looking at the real problem, and identifying it.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments (4)

Prime Minister

Asked what the Prime Minister was working on when he was "working in Downing Street", the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister was working on lots of things that would be revealed in due course. But he gently pointed out that this week we had so far dealt with the issues of local transport, planning, and we would be dealing with energy. By any standards those were big-ticket issues.

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

Alex Salmond

Asked if the Prime Minister had still been too busy to pick up the phone to talk to Mr Salmond, the PMOS replied that as far as he was aware, phones were two-way communication devices. He was not sure whether we had received an approach from Mr Salmond's office either. As he had said before, there would be an appropriate moment, which would be at the conveniences of both offices. Asked if there was any point now that the Prime Minister was leaving next month, the PMOS replied that a month was still a long time.

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

Litvinenko

Put that the Russians had so far shown no inclination whatsoever to cooperate, the PMOS replied that the key words in the question were "so far". We should wait and see what their considered formal response was. He understood that the journalist was in the business of 24 hour news, but we were in the business of boring legal responses. Let's see what the legal response was. Whether it was Russia or other countries, there were certain international obligations that people had, let's see whether Russia abides by them.

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

Road Pricing

Asked if the petition on the Prime Minister's web site had any effects on the draft Local Transport Bill which would be published today, the Prime Minister's Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that the issue had been dealt with at the time. What the petition clearly revealed was the strength of feeling, but that strength of feeling was not a substitute for Government policy. If nothing was done, then congestion would just increase as a problem by a range of up to 25%. We had to have a policy. What the petition underlined was the need to bottom out the policy in terms of getting experience and that precisely was what the pilot schemes were about. The PMOS said that today was about much more than just the issue of road pricing; it was about having a diverse transport policy which reflected local conditions in local areas.

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

Litvinenko Case/Russian relations

Asked if the Government was going to extradite Andrei Lugovoi from Russia, the PMOS replied that there was a legal process underway. The Russian Ambassador had had a meeting this morning with the Permanent Under Secretary Peter Ricketts at the Foreign Office to underline our view that Russia should comply with that legal request. Nobody should be in any doubt about the seriousness of this case, but as in any case, the way to deal with it was to let the legal process take its course.

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

Home Improvement Packs (HIPS)

Asked if the Government was having second thoughts about the HIPS, the PMOS recommended that the journalist spoke to the department.

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

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