Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Government changes, Trident, Hans Blix, Lords Reform, Veterans/PM visit, climate change/green tax, Police Inquiry, Al Gore, Ethiopia Kidnappings and Northern Ireland
Government changes
Asked if Jim Devine and Stephen Pound were still members of the Government, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that he had no changes to announce.
Trident
Asked to confirm that the Prime Minister would not be taking part in the debate on Trident in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the PMOS said that he would not be. Traditionally, defence debates were taken by a mixture of the Defence Secretary and the Foreign Secretary.
Put that it would therefore be a "toss up" between the two as to whom would open the debate, the PMOS said that was correct.
Asked to comment on the fact that Nigel Griffiths had just resigned, the PMOS replied that he was not going to comment on any resignations. In terms of the overall position in Trident, because of the lead times involved, it took 17 years to develop a replacement. That was why a decision had to be taken now. If a decision was not taken now, a decision was in effect being taken, and that was precisely why we had to make a decision. Put that the PMOS was worthy of Sir Humphrey, the PMOS said that was praise indeed!
Hans Blix
Asked if there was a response to Hans Blix’s recent comments regarding the war in Iraq being illegal and that the grounds for going to war had been spun, the PMOS replied that firstly, Mr. Blix at the time said that he also believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction (WMD). That was the generally accepted international consensus as reflected in the various announcements by the UN at the time. Secondly, there had been four separate inquiries, all of which came to the conclusion that the Government acted in good faith.
Asked if the inquiries had used that phrase, the PMOS said that that was what they meant.
Lords Reform
Asked if there was a message from the Government to the House of Lords as they deliberated this week, the PMOS said that it was a free vote, therefore, it was a matter for the Lords to come to their collective decision.
Veterans/Prime Minister visit
Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was about the state veterans found themselves in, the PMOS replied that if people looked at what the MOD had been saying and what the Surgeon General had said, they had been setting out not only their view of why it was more appropriate to treat veterans in civilian hospitals, as that was where there was a critical mass of expertise to treat such cases, but also, in terms of their overall care that was given. Of course, if people did have any complaints, they should make them known. The PMOS said that whilst he could not go into specific cases because of patient confidentiality, he said that the MOD had urgently investigated specific reports and they would give any response to families of those concerned.
Asked if there were any plans for the Prime Minister to visit the families of soldiers killed in Iraq, the PMOS replied that the Prime Minister did meet with the families of those who had died, but did so on a private basis. As people knew, he did write to each of them personally as well.
ClimateChange/GreenTax
Asked why the Chancellor was attending the Climate Change Bill launch, and what was his focus, the PMOS replied that obviously, there were certain spending implications in climate change. This was an overall Government approach, as the Prime Minister would set out very clearly in the Commons this afternoon. The Government’s approach was that there had to be a comprehensive approach, and that meant agreeing as we did on Friday with out European partners, targets for reducing emissions and for renewables. It also meant an across-the-board approach in this country, which focused particularly on how we made homes more energy efficient, how we reduced industry emissions, and also, how aviation emissions would be part of an EU emissions trading scheme as of 2011/2012.
Asked if the Prime Minister had put forward new proposals on "open skies" at the EU Council last week, the PMOS said that that was a matter that remained under active discussion with our EU colleagues. Therefore, it was better that those discussions continued in private.
Asked if Crossrail was seen as part of the green agenda, and did anything come out of the Prime Minister’s meeting last week about it, the PMOS replied that as we had said at the time, the talks were primarily designed to inject new momentum into the discussions. That was why we had brought together representatives of business, local authorities and the agencies involved. We would therefore see what came of it.
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with the Chancellor that it was tax incentives people needed, rather than penalties to encourage better green behaviour, the PMOS said that he would leave tax to the Chancellor. However, in terms of overall approach, as he had said on many occasions, the Prime Minister did not believe that if people were asked to accept a lower standard of living, that that would result in them taking the environmental action that we all needed. What we did need to do was to show people how they could be more energy efficient, but also, give industry, both in the UK and abroad, the incentive to invest in green technology. There were already 400,000 to 500,000 jobs in the UK that were dependant on developing and producing such technology. The PMOS said that it would not happen unless it was done at a global level, and that was precisely why the Prime Minister started his G8 and EU Presidency by putting climate change on the agenda, and it was why we continued to develop it through Gleneagles and Hampton Court, which resulted in the agreement last week. What that did was give business the certainty that this was now an EU target, and that meant that they would invest in producing green technology. What was equally important was that we brought in the US, India and China, which was why this year’s G8+5 would be a very important meeting.
Asked if one of the Prime Minister’s priorities was to ensure that ordinary holidaymakers would not be hit, the PMOS replied that as he had said in Brussels last week, the Prime Minister did not believe that going on an aeroplane should be made a criminal offence. Rather, airlines should be incentivised to invest in cleaner planes and cleaner technology. What we had to do overall was to bear in mind that in terms of emissions, the EU estimated that globally, aviation was responsible for 3.5% of emissions. Household activity in this country alone was around 27%, so there was a lot more that could be done in terms of ordinary household activity.
Asked if the Prime Minister was therefore opposed to increasing aviation tax, the PMOS said that what the Prime Minister believed in terms of aviation was that it was important to include it as part of the global approach. That was why we had pressed for, and had now received, aviation emissions to be included as part of the EU trading scheme. That was the way to go forward.
Asked if one way to encourage green behaviour would be to increase taxation on aviation, the PMOS said that the Treasury had already announced the increase in the Air Passenger Duty. The important thing was that we saw it as part of an overall approach; this country could not act unilaterally on an issue such as taxation, as the Treasury had been making clear. If people acted unilaterally, all that would happen was that people would buy their fuel elsewhere and bring it into the UK, or our own airlines would be penalised at the expense of others.
Put that last year, the Chancellor had doubled air tax, and that was not a unilateral act, but one that was deliberately done, and what was the Prime Minister’s view was, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister’s view was that whatever was done should be part of an overall approach that did not harm the interests of this country without having any significant impact on the overall emissions output. In terms of output, people should not get aviation out of perspective. Aviation: 3%. Household activity: 27%. The PMOS said that there were actions that could be taken, such as the emissions trading scheme, and there were ways of developing cleaner technology for aircrafts. However, what we had to do was recognise where the main action had to take place, and that was why there was a commitment to 20% renewables across the EU as a whole, to a 20% emissions cut, and if there was global agreement, 30%.
Asked for further clarification about green taxes, the PMOS said that he did not discuss tax.
Put that it was "incredible" that the PMOS was not able to discuss tax issues, since it was central to what the Government did, the PMOS replied that as people knew, it was a long-standing convention.
Asked if that was because there was a problem with the Chancellor, the PMOS said it was because the Chancellor was the person who announced the tax increases, and not the PMOS.
Asked why the Prime Minister had supported the Chancellor’s tax decision last year, the PMOS said it had sent a signal to the industry. In terms of an overall approach, it was only one element of an overall comprehensive approach, and the key point was that aviation should not be taken in isolation. It should also be recognised that aviation was a small percentage of the overall problem.
Asked what message did that send to the industry, the PMOS replied that what we needed to do was to invest in clean technology and to encourage the industry to do so. Equally, we had to recognise that it was part of a global industry that was not isolated to this country, and therefore measures could not be taken that were isolated to the UK.
Police inquiry
No.
Al Gore
Asked to confirm that Al Gore was an advisor to the Government, the PMOS said that he was an advisor to the Treasury.
Asked to confirm whether Al Gore would be an advisor to the Shadow Cabinet, the PMOS replied that that was entirely a matter for not only the Treasury, but also, the Opposition.
Ethiopia Kidnappings
Asked for any updates on the situation, the PMOS said that it continued to be closely watched by the Foreign Office.
Northern Ireland
Asked for the Prime Minister’s view on Ian Paisley’s comments after the election, the PMOS replied that the basis on which the election was called was very firmly set out by the two Prime Ministers when they called the election in Downing Street. Everyone knew that that basis was that a decision would be made to form a Government, or not, by 26 March. All the evidence we had from the doorstep, backed up by the Belfast Telegraph poll suggested that the vast majority of the population wanted the Government to go ahead, and wanted that Government to deal first and foremost with domestic issues such as water rates, health, education and the economy. That therefore was the backdrop, and apart from that, the legislation said quite clearly that if there could not be a Government by 26 March, then the Assembly would be dissolved. It would take a fresh election to recall any assembly. The PMOS said that nobody who knew anything about the situation on the ground in Northern Ireland thought that the people of Northern Ireland wanted to go to the polls for the 35 time since the 1970s.
Asked if there would be any further deadline extensions, the PMOS said that the 26th March was a fact.
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