Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Alex Salmond, Council Housing and Climate Change
Alex Salmond
Asked if the Prime Minister had congratulated Alex Salmond on his appointment as First Minister, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) replied that the Prime Minister had been to Washington and Iraq, and therefore had been rather busy.
Asked whether it was good enough that the Prime Minister thought he was too busy to make a 30 second phonecall to Alex Salmond, the PMOS repeated that the Prime Minister had been travelling. He had no doubt at all that at some stage there would be a proper substantive discussion. We were not interested in gesture politics, we were interested in serious conversation.
Asked what kind of relationship the Prime Minister would like to have with Alex Salmond, the PMOS replied that he was sure that the Prime Minister was interested in having an entirely proper relationship with Mr Salmond, and one that worked to the benefit of both Scotland and the UK as a whole.
Council Housing
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Margaret Hodge’s comments that priority should be given to British residents when it came to council housing, the PMOS replied that first and foremost the Government had recognised that there was an issue here. That was why they had set up various mechanisms including the Migration Impact Forum, which would be headed by Phil Woolas and Liam Byrne, to provide information on the impact of migration on the wider community. The key to this was increasing the rate of house building in the social sector, and this was up by 50% in the last couple of years. There was also the issue of social housing in general, and Professor John Hills had been looking at this and we would consider what he had to say over the coming months. However this had to be kept in context, we recognised that this had particular impact in particular areas, but overall in 2005-06 only about 1% of lettings (some 1,100 or so) went to foreign nationals. So in particular areas there was an impact, which we recognised, and this was why we were bringing this review to bring it all together, but we should not forget the overall context.
Asked if the Prime Minister regretted not placing greater emphasis on building more social housing earlier, the PMOS replied that we had increased it by 50% in the last couple of years. Also the issue that continued to evolve, therefore the answers had to continue to evolve with it. We should also not lose sight of the benefits that migration continues to bring to this country. This was a complex picture with complex impacts in particular areas.
Asked specifically if the Prime Minister disagreed with Margaret Hodge, and whether she had breached her responsibilities on the issue, the PMOS replied that Margaret Hodge represented an area with particular problems in this concern. As a representative of that area she was perfectly entitled to do so. It was however an issue which we were grappling with, and would continue to grapple with. The two were not incompatible.
Asked if it was not Government policy, the PMOS replied that Government policy was to look at this issue in the round, and to deal with particular pressures where there were particular pressures.
Climate Change
Asked by the Guardian to comment on the Independent on Saturday story that almost all of the climate change proposals we put to the American President had been rejected, the PMOS replied that the Independent was wrong.
Asked by the Independent which part of its story was wrong, the PMOS replied that firstly this was not an occasion where we put concrete proposals to the US President. Secondly, in the press conference the President actually said that the US wanted to be part of the solution. The important thing was the approach that we made to the G8 Summit. We believed that the Americans wanted to approach that in a constructive way. And we believed that our conversations had taken us further forward. So if the Guardian reporter’s summary of the Independent story was accurate, then the Independent was wrong.
Put by the Guardian reporter that he had only read the front page that read “No, No, No”, and that there was no need to buy the Independent, you just had to read the front page, the PMOS replied that if he wanted to give a running commentary on the Independent, then it was for him and the Independent to sort out. But without resisting the temptation to comment, the story was just simplistic nonsense.
Asked if the Prime Minister was concerned about reports that the Americans wanted to water down the draft communiqué ahead of the G8 Summit, the PMOS replied that unlike the Independent, the Guardian and the Standard, the Prime Minister had actually talked to President Bush about this. What we had to do was work towards the G8 Summit, work towards the goals of stabilising emissions, work towards getting a consensus, and as President Bush had said in the Rose Garden - he wanted to be part of the solution. We would not speak for the Americans in terms of detail, but the important thing was that we continued to push forward.
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