Morning press briefing from 18 March 2008
Briefing from the Prime Minister's Spokesman on: Cabinet, Economy, Northern Rock, National Security Strategy, Sustainable Development Report and misc
Cabinet
The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) began by telling the assembled press what had been discussed in Cabinet that morning, including the National Security Strategy ahead of the Prime Minister's statement tomorrow; there was an update from the Chancellor on economic issues and there was also an update from Ruth Kelly and Hilary Benn on the Sustainable Development Commission annual report on the Government's own sustainability.
Economy
The Chancellor updated Cabinet on his discussions yesterday and over the weekend with the US Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, the Governor of the Bank of England and the Chairman of the Financial Services Authority. He explained that we were working with authorities here and internationally and doing all we could to maintain stability and growth in the face of continued global turbulence.
The Chancellor said that because of the resilience of the UK economy, our low debt, unemployment and inflation, we were well placed to deal with the current global financial turbulence and that the fundamentals of the UK economy remained strong.
The Chancellor wrote to members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the G7 and the Financial Stability Forum yesterday to call for agreement on coordinated international action on transparency and disclosure, better risk management and action on credit rating agencies when the G7 and the IMF met in April.
Later today the Chancellor would be meeting Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Managing Director of the IMF. He was in London to discuss the current situation and the Government's proposals for dealing with these issues at the forthcoming IMF meetings in Washington.
Asked how long the economic discussions in Cabinet had lasted, the PMS said they had lasted for about 15 minutes and the Cabinet meeting in total was around 50 minutes.
Asked if the Prime Minister had had any discussions with President Bush or other world leaders on the economic situation, the PMS reiterated that the Prime Minister had lengthy discussions with his European counterparts in Brussels at the end of last week. We were in close contact with the US and others and the Chancellor had been speaking to Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary.
Northern Rock
Asked about the Chancellor's statement on Northern Rock and what it would contain, the PMS replied that it had already been issued.
Asked whether Northern Rock was mentioned in Cabinet and what the Prime Minister was doing for the thousands of people in the North East who could lose their jobs, the PMS said that Northern Rock was mentioned in Cabinet in the context of wider action that was being taken in order to deal with the global financial issues that were affecting every economy. In relation to Northern Rock jobs, as the Chancellor had said in his statement this morning, the Chief Executive of the Regional Development Agency had been asked to lead the Government's response.
One North East had already begun constructive discussions with Northern Rock and would work with local authorities, Job Centre Plus, Business Link North East, the Learning Skills Council and Northern Rock's management to coordinate the Government's support for those involved.
Asked if the Prime Minister had a message for Northern Rock workers, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister's message was that we were taking action in order to deliver stability in the economy and we were asking the Chief Executive of the Regional Development Agency to coordinate and work with the agencies that the PMS had listed, in order to coordinate support for those affected.
Asked whether the Prime Minister still stood by his assessment that the taxpayer could make a profit form the Northern Rock business plan, the PMS said that he did not think that that was an issue for today.
National Security Strategy
Asked what the National Security Strategy would cover, the PMS said that the broad context was that the international security situation was changing; the nature of the security threat we were facing was quite different from what it was 20 years ago or even 10 years ago. The Government's response needed to change to reflect that and what we would be doing in the National Security Strategy would be to set out in a coherent way, how all of the various agencies and departments of Government were working collectively to deal with the new challenges we faced.
Asked who led the discussions on the subject in Cabinet, the PMS replied that David Miliband, Jacqui Smith and Des Browne led the discussion.
Sustainable Development Report
Asked what the report had said, the PMS replied that it had pointed out that the Government had made good progress. 23% of Government electricity came from renewable sources, 35% of waste was recycled, but clearly there was more that could be done. Asked if it had been published, the PMS said it was his understanding that it had been published.
Misc
Asked if Iraq came up in Cabinet, the PMS said only in passing when the National Security Strategy was being discussed.
Asked whether the Prime Minister would be meeting the Dalai Lama in Downing Street, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had answered that question numerous times during the course of the debate yesterday and he had nothing to add to that.
Asked what the Prime Minister would be discussing with the Chief Advisor of Bangladesh, the PMS said they would be discussing climate change, counter-terrorism, where we had been working with Bangladesh and development issues.
Asked what the Prime Minister and Nancy Pelosi would be discussing, the PMS said that he imagined they would be discussing a wide range of issues. When they met last July, they discussed among other things, climate change, trade and the world economy.
Email the Prime Minister