» Monday, July 23, 2007

Intelligence and Security Committee Report on Rendition

Asked for information on the Intelligence and Security Committee's (ISC) Report on rendition, the PMS said that it was an ISC report, not a Government review, but was being published by the Cabinet Office on their behalf. Asked for further information about the Prime Minister and Jacqui Smith's statement on security, the PMS said that it would cover a range of issues, as well as issues around how we took forward the "hearts and minds" agenda.

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

24 Hour Drinking

Asked where things stood with regards to 24 hour drinking, the PMS replied that the DCMS had conducted a survey of licensing authorities in November 2006, which was one year on from implementation. Separate to that, the Home Office, as would normally happen following the introduction of a major piece of legislation, was evaluating the impact of the new legislation in detail. They were due to report by the end of 2007, which was what the Prime Minister was referring to in his press conference this morning.

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

UN Secretary General

Asked further about the Prime Minister's meeting with Ban Ki Moon, the PMS replied that it was the first time they had met since Mr. Brown had become Prime Minister. They mainly covered Afghanistan in their meeting, and the Prime Minister had said that the UK was committed to Afghanistan, but both agreed to look afresh for the need for greater burden sharing in Afghanistan.

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

Holiday

Asked if the Prime Minister would be taking a holiday in August, the PMS confirmed that he would be, but there were no details.

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

» Friday, July 20, 2007

Paris

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) began by running through three points to come out of the Prime Minister's meeting with President Sarkozy earlier today. Firstly, the joint committee with the French on counter terrorism whichwill now meet quarterly. Secondly, there would be a joint initiative on the environment with the Chancellor and the French Finance Minister to lobby the European Commission to allow reduced rates of VAT on environmentally friendly goods. And thirdly a joint Franco-British communiqué on Darfur had been issued following this morning's meetings. David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister would travel to New York shortly to push for a UN Security Council resolution on Darfur, and for that process to be accelerated. It was agreed by both parties that we should hold open the threat of sanctions if the Sudanese Government did not cooperate, but we would work jointly together with the French on a package of economic support, and the possibility was also raised of the Prime Minister and President Sarkozy visiting Darfur at some point in the future.

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

Police Inquiry

Asked for a comment on the "cash for honours" inquiry, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had commented at this morning's press conference in Paris and there was nothing to add.

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

Green VAT

Asked for more details on the green VAT, the PMS replied that this was something that we had been pushing for for a while, and we were very glad that we had French support for this. The Prime Minister, when he was Chancellor, and obviously that continues now he is Prime Minister, was always very keen to ensure that there were carrots as well as sticks in terms of incentivising people to behave in an environmentally friendly way. He always felt frustrated as Chancellor that he was not able to introduce more tax incentives to encourage environmentally friendly measures. One of the reasons for that was because we were constrained under EU law by the range of products on which lower rates of VAT can apply. We were calling for, and we were very pleased that the French were supporting us on this, the list of products that are eligible for lower rates of VAT to be extended to include environmentally friendly products.

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

» Thursday, July 19, 2007

Drugs

Asked if the Prime Minister was entirely relaxed that at least 5 members of his Cabinet and 3 members of the Government had admitted to using drugs, the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) said that he was. It was a personal matter for the Ministers concerned, as the PMS had said this morning.

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

Terror Laws

Asked if the Prime Minister had been in touch with leaders of the Opposition to discuss changes in terror laws, the PMS said that there had been contact and discussion with the opposition parties, and there would certainly be further discussions when things moved forward.

Briefing took place at 15:00 | Read whole briefing | Comments Off on Terror Laws

Russia

Asked if we were satisfied with Russia's answer that drew a line under the issue, the PMS said that he had nothing to add to the Foreign Secretary's statement earlier in the afternoon. As the Foreign Secretary had made clear, we were disappointed with the response from Russia and we thought that the action that they had taken was completely unjustified. We would continue to take this matter forward with the international community over the next few days and weeks.

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

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