Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Super Casinos, Police Inquiry, Northern Ireland, Prime Minister’s meeting with Monsieur Sarkozy and E-Petitions
Super Casinos
Put that now there had been a decision on the super casino, would we be minded to accept the recommendation on casinos, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the next step was Tessa Jowell’s statement in the House this afternoon at 1530, therefore he did not want to pre-empt anything she was going to say. It was then a matter for the House to vote on. Tessa Jowell had to make up her mind whether to accept the panel’s decision. That then went to a vote in the House, but it would be a Whips’ vote as it was a Government proposal.
Put that the Prime Minister in October 2004 had said that Blackpool was in urgent need of regeneration, and therefore, was he disappointed that the decision had not gone to Blackpool, the PMOS said that the Advisory panel would set out the reasons why it had reached its decision. The criteria were set down, and part of that was the relative deprivation in each area, and the panel would have taken that into account. It was best for the panel to set out its reasons, and for Tessa Jowell to respond to that this afternoon.
Put that given there was to be a review within the next two years or so, was there likely to be another super casino in that timeframe, the PMOS replied that we had to take one step at a time. The important thing was that in the end, the number of casinos, be they super or otherwise, could only increase if Parliament agreed.
Police Inquiry
Put by ITN’s Political Editor that last week they had reported that the police investigation for the honours inquiry had discovered in their investigation that there was a second computer system used by senior Downing Street officials, and we had issued a statement saying the story was untrue, but it now seemed clear that some senior Labour Party officials in No10 did use a separate system, and did we now want to amend our statement, and were we aware of that some people in No10 used that second system when we made our earlier statement, the PMOS asked the journalist what evidence did he have that some officials did use a second system. The journalist replied that he did not have evidence, but that it "seemed clear" that some people did. The PMOS said that it was wrong. The PMOS said that people had to start questioning who had supplied the information, and why, as it was wrong.
Asked again by ITN if any Downing Street official had ever used anything other than the official Government system, the PMOS said that those people on the party side had made clear the answer to that. There was only one system in Downing Street. The police had had complete access to all such transactions.
Asked why were people being fed the wrong information, the PMOS replied that it was not for him to speculate on.
Put that it sounded as if we were suggesting some kind of "dirty tricks smear", the PMOS said that he was not suggesting anything. Rather, he was simply pointing out that the information last week was wrong. It was wrong in the ITN report, it was wrong in the suggestions that The Sunday Telegraph had been put to us, and this was wrong again.
Northern Ireland
Asked for further information on the Prime Minister’s talks with Bertie Ahern this evening, the PMOS said that where we were today was different from where we were yesterday. What had changed was that Gerry Adams had unequivocally said that if someone was a victim of crime in Northern Ireland, they should now go to the police. That was a significant advance by any terms in the history of Northern Ireland. What we now had to do, and the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister would have to consider this, was reach a decision on going ahead with the elections on the basis that those elections would be to a power sharing executive being set up by 26th March, with everyone in that executive fully supporting the police. The PMOS said that we were significantly further forward as a result of the clarity and lack of equivocation in Mr Adams’ statement.
Asked when would we be making a decision about when to go ahead with the elections, the PMOS said that we could decide to go ahead with the election, but if at any point, it became clear that it was not going to result in a power sharing executive, then we did not have to go ahead with it. The sole basis on which we were going forward was that the result would be a power sharing executive in which everyone supported the police, and that that would be in place by 26th March.
Asked if there had been any assurances from Dr. Paisley that Sinn Fein had done enough to satisfy the DUP, the PMOS replied that Dr. Paisley would speak for himself. He had publicly acknowledged that there had been some progress, and he had also said that of course, they wanted to see words translated into action, and that was true of us as well. What we should not deny in any way was the significance just of the Ard Fheis decision, but also of what Gerry Adams had said yesterday.
Put that the timescale seemed tight, as there was less than one month to settle, the PMOS replied that everybody had been fully aware of the timescale that was involved. We had February, then the elections, and up to 26th March. People had been aware throughout of the basis of which we were moving forward. If people thought that that basis was not achievable, then they should say so, but so far, they have not.
Prime Minister’s meeting with Monsieur Sarkozy
Asked if it was usual for the Prime Minister to meet with visiting politicians who were on a campaign tour, the PMOS replied that we had met many politicians who were in the process of elections, and Monsieur Sarkozy was still the French Interior Minister. The PMOS added that if Ségolène Royal wanted to come to London to meet the Prime Minister, the PMOS was sure that he would be happy to meet her as well.
Asked for more information about the Prime Minister’s lunch meeting today, the PMOS replied that the range of issues would be Europe, the Middle East peace process, climate change and Monsieur Sarkozy had expressed an interest in seeing how we engaged with the public with our e-petitions.
Asked how had Monsieur Sarkozy been made aware of the e-petition, the PMOS said through media coverage!
E-Petitions
The PMOS told journalists that today, the millionth person had signed an e-petition in a process that had only begun in November, which showed that it was very popular with the public. Petitions had always played an important part in Downing Street, and this was simply a different format in which to do it. It creates an opportunity to listen to what people had to say, to reply, and then to engage in dialogue. What it did not automatically guarantee was a change in policy, as sometimes, there were issues such as road pricing where people had strong views, but strong views did not necessarily equal a solution to congestion. People’s views would be taken into account, but a decision had to be made as well.
Asked what the 1 millionth signature petition was, the PMOS said it was a petition about protecting live music and dance from regulation.
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