12 June 2008
The Prime Minister said the Government would turn its attention to tackling the rising cost of fuel and food and its impact on family finances.
Questions from journalists covered the 42 days pre-charge detention, relations with OPEC and polyclinics.
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Read the transcript:
Prime Minister:
Good morning. For all the attention other issues may have had, important though they are, the issue of greatest concern to most members of the public, and what matters most to them today, is the impact of the costs of fuel, of food on family finances and therefore what is happening in the world economy to affect that. It is these concerns that I am going to address today, and tomorrow and for the next few weeks, as we engage with other governments on the root causes of what most families are worrying about and the ways forward to make things better.
Now, I believe Britain is well placed as an economy and I am well placed because of my experience to seek and deliver international progress on action that will address these pressures and keep our economy moving forward. Sometimes problems like the oil and food crisis can to some extent be alleviated by national measures like the winter fuel allowance and freezing fuel duty as we have done in the Budget, but in the end they require solutions that no nation can deliver alone.
Global problems like this need global solutions. World oil prices have trebled, wheat and maize prices have doubled, hitting every country, as well as us, hard and we are currently at a stage where prices are continuing to rise because for the foreseeable future people expect growth in demand for food and commodities to outstrip growth in supply.
So the world leaders need to make long-term decisions on energy, food and finance and if we make the right decisions, I believe Britain is well placed to come through the current economic difficulties. As yesterday’s record employment figures have shown, Britain’s economy remains strong, we are better placed with a pay deal now signed by 1.6 million people for 3 years, better placed than other countries for the difficult world challenges ahead.
I know the difficulties that families have faced and are facing, and I am determined to do more to help, so over the coming months I and every member of the government will focus on building a comprehensive short term and medium term plan to deal with these critical problems, the cost of gas, petrol, food and mortgages, so we can help British families and businesses.
Because they are ultimately international problems requiring international solutions, we will press other leaders for joint action. I will ask at important international meetings that the European Union and the G8 and the entire international community take action and will seek agreement on a new global approach to oil and energy, that removes barriers to increased supply of oil and gas, strengthens measures to reduce demand, and open and transparent dialogue between producers and consumers. We want an immediate agreement also on a new world trade deal which could halt the rise in protectionist sentiment and we want a new approach to food policy that eliminates controls on production and restrictions on trade and encourages a greater focus on improving agricultural production.
Last week I called for a joint producer and consumer dialogue on oil. This week I have talked to world leaders, including the King of Saudi Arabia. We will continue to work closely with the Saudi Government. This can only be done through dialogue. The Saudis have now agreed that they will convene a high level meeting in Jeddah a week on Sunday to address these oil issues. I strongly welcome this initiative which I called for. I will travel to Jeddah in order to work on it with King Abdullah. I proposed to the King that if necessary I will be happy to convene a follow-up Summit at Heads of Government level and have offered London as a venue.
Britain is today also publishing our detailed paper that we are tabling to the G8 setting out our analysis of what needs to be done for oil and energy, as well as for food.
With greater energy efficiency and with a diversity of energy supply, renewable and nuclear, we can reduce our dependence on oil, so later this month we will be setting out our proposals to increase dramatically by 700% the proportion of our energy which comes from renewables. At the same time we will raise energy efficiency and how Britain can lead this green, technological revolution.
This morning John Hutton is also setting out details of new measures to facilitate another supply of energy, how we can facilitate and where we can speed up the building of new nuclear power stations here in Britain. The latest estimate is that to meet climate change and energy requirements in the next 40 years, the world could need as many as 1,000 new nuclear power stations with all the serious implications that has for security as well as cost and change. Expansion of nuclear, like the 700% growth in renewables, will lessen our addiction on oil, and while I know there are nuclear protesters who object to any nuclear power, they need to know if they had their way, the resulting energy crisis would bring less security, more instability, faster climate change and more poverty.
So we will work internationally at all these meetings, the G8 Finance Ministers meet this weekend. On Monday I meet President Bush. I have spoken to Chancellor Merkel, Prime Minister Singh of India and President Barroso about how we can work together on these issues. I will meet the Prime Minister of Norway next week to talk about the energy problems, and on Thursday I will travel to meet President Sarkozy before the European Summit.
So there are pressures on family finances that affect every citizen. The government fully understands the difficulties they cause and the causes that underlie them. The government is acting with other governments to ensure action on the global economy at a global level and acting at home to preserve and enhance the strength of the British economy, and this will absorb our attention over the next few weeks.
Question:
Prime Minister, after last night shouldn’t your slogan read, money for Northern Ireland, for ex-miners and released terror suspects. What price have we all paid for your victory?
Prime Minister:
There was no deal. There was no deal with the Democratic Unionist Party, no deal with the Ulster Unionists generally and I think for people to imply that is to take away from the strength of the argument about the need to tackle terrorism, and nobody knows more about the dangers of terrorism in the United Kingdom than people who come from Northern Ireland, nobody knows more about the need to act on terrorism than the people who come from Northern Ireland, and nobody knows more about the need to take action in preparation in case you have terrorist abuses than the people of Northern Ireland, as reflected in what the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland said over the last few days about the need for this legislation. And I believe that the people who voted for this voted on principle because they are persuaded by the arguments and I regret the fact that it was not possible to build a national consensus on this [party political content].
Question:
Prime Minister, pretty much everyone woke up this morning thinking that a deal had been done with the DUP. Can you say to us today with your hand on your heart, absolutely straight, that they did not ask, that all your discussions only involved the issue at hand. They did not ask for any concessions, there were no inducements, nothing of that type was discussed at any time?
Prime Minister:
I think you have asked the DUP and I have the quotes from the DUP themselves. The DUP say that there was no deal and I have said explicitly that I was not party to any deals but I want to tell you that the DUP themselves have said that they are not. The issue said Mr McCrea was “national security”.
Then Mr Wilson of the DUP: “What did the Prime Minister offer?, the Prime Minister did not offer anything,” so if I am saying there was no deal and they are saying there was no deal, look, I think you guys should really look at this issue of terrorism seriously: we put forward measures because we were informed by the police and the Security Services that because of the complexity and the sophistication and the scale of investigations, sometimes across continents, certainly across borders and certainly involving encrypted computers and everything else, that they will need more time to deal with that; people in Northern Ireland know from their experience what happens with terrorism and for people in Northern Ireland to vote on principle that we needed to take action on terrorism is in my view not only comprehensible but was the right thing to do. [Party political content]
Question:
Prime Minister you have just mentioned two DUP MPs there, Willie McCrea and Sammy Wilson. I heard what they said. I think you were quoting from Sky News interviews, after they had appeared on Sky News. But other DUP MPs have talked about what might happen in the future. One DUP MP talked about a very long shopping list last night and I and many of us saw your Northern Ireland Secretary, Sean Woodward, scurrying between your office and the DUP’s office, and one of their MPs, Gregory Campbell, has talked this morning in an interview about talks in the future and he has also said that that vote showed that the DUP MPs are crucial, we will be reminding the government of that on each and every occasion that comes into play, which will probably be more and more often now. You are going to Northern Ireland I think on Monday. Might we see some reward for the DUP MPs then?
Prime Minister:
There is no deal and there could be no deal and this is an issue of principle. And I think you are impugning the reputation of people who are concerned about terrorism and have voted on the issue of terrorism. To suggest that they voted on this issue other than because they believed it is right that we take the preparatory steps so that if a terrorist incident occurs, we can deal with it. [Party political content] And I am determined to continue to show that it is the right thing to do and actually I would prefer there to be an all-party consensus on the issue which is something I have been appealing for, for the last year.
Question:
Thank you, Prime Minister. Just to clear this up, Prime Minister. Did you offer to any MP yesterday anything that went beyond the issue of counter-terrorism?
Prime Minister:
I do not offer deals on terrorism. I want to take action on terrorism. I wanted to persuade people about the need to take national security into account and that we had received advice from the police and the Security Services consistently over the last few years that we had to take action on these issues. And yes, it is right for me to try and persuade MPs, indeed of all parties, to vote for these measures, because I think it is right in the national interest, and I will continue to do so. Just as it is right now for me to focus on what concerns the people of Britain most at this particular moment, and that is the cost of food, the cost of oil, the cost of family finances because of things that are happening round the world, and you are right to raise any issue that you want to raise, but I do suggest to you that what people are worried about at the moment also are the issues that I have addressed in my first statement for the press conference today.
Question:
Talking about family finances and the cost of fuel, it is clear that because of the rising price of oil the Exchequer is taking a lot more money into its coffers than it had previously forecast, in fact so much money that you could probably afford quite happily to cut the size of duty as it stands right now. We pay the most for diesel in this country. Is that something that you are planning to do to take the burden off hard-working families in this country? And if I could just ask you as well, in the light of last night’s Apprentice television programme, would you hire anybody who had lied on their CV?
Prime Minister:
I think people should tell the truth. I think in this case someone exaggerated what they had done. Alan Sugar is perfectly able to take all factors into account in making his decision and I have no doubt that we should support him in the decision that he made, but generally my advice to people is to tell the truth when they apply for jobs because as was found in this case it always comes out anyway, and it became known that an exaggeration had been made.
As far as your first question is concerned, can I just point out to people that when oil prices rise, corporate profits are down and thus corporation tax revenue is down. When oil prices rise, people buy less goods in other areas, and therefore VAT revenues are down, and when oil prices rise, as sometimes happens, less people are in work or are able to earn less, not more, as a result of the work and income tax revenues sometimes fall. So while there is a rise in North Sea oil revenues, which is relatively small actually, there is also a compensating cost to the government. And as you know for most of the last 8 years we have actually frozen fuel duty and not even had an inflation rise in fuel duty and that means also there is less revenue for the Treasury. Look, the issue on oil prices is this. It is the effect on the ordinary family. Every time we go to the petrol station and find that when you are filling up your tank it costs more, every time you get your gas and electricity bill and find that the price has gone up as a result of the rising cost of oil, and while a government like ours can do a lot, there is a great deal more can be done if the overall price of oil can either come down or be made stable, and that is why it is important to talk to other countries, in particular the oil producers, about this and I suggest if you look round the world, every government, every single government, is now under pressure because of the rise in food prices and the rise in oil prices. People’s standard of living has been directly affected by that and it is up to the global leadership to act on this, and that is why the dialogue with oil producers is essential because I believe it can bring results, but it is also right that we have got to act on food prices and increase food production and it is also of course why we have got to act on the credit crunch and make sure that the world is able to deliver money to people so that they can borrow money, buy homes and invest in businesses. Now these are global problems that require global solutions and it is fortuitous that the European Union meeting comes up next week, the G8 very soon, and it is our chance to take action on these really important issues affecting people’s living standards.
Question:
They are fine words on the front of your lectern this morning but fine words don’t actually help people when they go to the pumps, when they go to the shops. The oil producers say the oil price is going to continue rising, and as George Pascoe-Watson says, the big price, 70% when you go to the pump, is in taxation. Are you prepared to see fuel prices go to £1.50 a litre and not do anything?
Prime Minister:
Well, the percentage taken by tax is going down, not up. As far as oil prices and food prices are concerned, I mean nobody is in any doubt that the biggest reason why prices are rising is the global commodities market and the price of oil internationally, and the price of food internationally, being so high, so we have got to act internationally as well as domestically. Now, domestically we have raised the winter fuel allowance, we have got a new agreement from the utilities companies that will cut the price of energy bills, gas and electricity bills, for low income households, we have frozen fuel duty for the time being as you know, and many years before now, and we continue to have done that. But that is only one way we can make a difference. The other way is seeing an effect on the price of oil on the international market, seeing it more stable or coming down, and seeing a change in the price of basic commodities like wheat and maize. I mean everybody knows when they look at their household budget that the price of bread, the price of milk, the price of eggs are some of the biggest price rises that people have seen, and that is influenced by all the international conditions I am talking about.
Question:
On fuel, the immediate is a tanker drivers strike, due to start tomorrow. There are already queues outside petrol stations. What measures are you prepared to take to make sure fuel keeps getting through? Are you prepared to use the military to drive tankers if the pumps run dry?
Prime Minister:
Well, we are determined to do everything to ensure the supply of fuel to people. But at this moment I think the most important thing is to hope that the arbitration that is taking place, and now the direct talks that are taking place between the company and the workforce, can yield results. I believe there is a way forward for this and I believe that all people’s efforts should be, in the next 24 hours, to making sure that an agreement is possible between the employers and the workforce.
Question:
You were just talking about the importance of telling the truth. The truth is though that in the build-up to a crunch vote, isn’t it, that if you are meeting with potential rebels on your own back benches, or members of the Democratic Unionist Party, other subjects come up in the discussion and people get a more receptive hearing and they leave the room thinking that those conversations have secured an impact [indistinct].
Prime Minister:
You are sort of scraping the barrel now. I have said there is no deal, I have said there is no agreement being made. Look, can you not accept that on the issue of terrorism people do feel strongly? [Party political content] And can you not accept that if I were ever to come to the House of Commons, 6 months or 12 months from now, and there had been a major terrorist incident and the House of Commons had refused to give us this legislation, that parties and people that are concerned about terrorism would feel very angry about that? And I feel that those people who come from Northern Ireland and represent their constituencies in the House of Commons will know more than anybody else about the effect of terrorism. [Party political content] And I think as a reporter perhaps you might be prepared to reflect the very strong feelings that people have about the need to act when there is a possibility that terrorist acts can cause so much carnage in our community.
Question:
[Indistinct] your feelings on that particular matter, are you prepared to do all in your power to ensure the legislation reaches the statute book, including if necessary using the Parliament Act?
Prime Minister:
Well I hope the House of Lords will take the same view as the House of Commons. I believe it was the right thing to do. I believe as the argument goes forward people will realise that the scale and complexity of terrorist investigations is such that there will come a time when the police will inevitably need more time to do investigations if there are very serious incidents. And I believe we are winning the argument about the need to take action on terrorism and showing that many of the claims made by people who have opposed these measures are in fact simply wrong.
Question:
Prime Minister, with respect, it is one thing to not convince the Conservative Party, but you have a majority of 66, you won by 9 votes. Why did you not manage to convince Labour Party MPs and why did you have to rely therefore on the DUP? And also in world terms why does the UK need 42 days, which is vastly superior to any other country, including the US? Do they not face a huge threat as well, a terrorist threat?
Prime Minister:
If you look at the position in other countries, let’s be absolutely clear, other countries have different legal systems. When Liberty produced a comparison - that is the organisation that was pressing against us - of Britain and other countries, they forgot to say that in Britain someone who is arrested comes before a court within 48 hours, within two days, and that is the proper comparison with other countries. People can be detained without the full charges in other countries for longer than 42 days. And I think the historical and country by country comparisons that have been made are usually ones that are not accurate and they should be tested against what is the reality in these countries. As far as Labour Members of Parliament are concerned, I think you know that on the last occasion the Government lost substantially when the issue of further days for detention was put to the House of Commons. [Party political content]
Question:
Do you have any advice for the Irish tomorrow, for the vote? Today, sorry.
Prime Minister:
I believe it is today and I believe that there will be a result quite soon after the referendum. I hope that there is a big turnout in Ireland and I hope people do come out to vote. And of course we are going ahead with the legislation that is now in the House of Lords to ratify the new European changes that will be brought into being next year.
Question:
Prime Minister you spoke about the importance of national security, how serious is it for two intelligence files on al Qaeda and Iraq to be left discarded in a train carriage? And does this mean your Government has learnt nothing from the data mishandlings of last year?
Prime Minister:
Obviously this was a very serious incident and we take it seriously. We will have to trace where these documents have gone, if they have gone anywhere other than in an envelope to a local BBC station. The official, obviously, who has been responsible for this has been suspended. We will set up an inquiry. Ed Miliband will be making a statement in the House of Commons in the next few minutes on this, and of course we take this seriously and of course no breach of intelligence can be condoned, and we will enquire and report on all the circumstances in which this happened.
Question:
Prime Minister at a time when so many families are feeling the pinch, what plans have you got for reducing the overall cost of government, and in particular haven’t people got a right to feel disgusted when they see expenditure like the House of Lords planning plush new offices, or MPs spending money, public money, on refurbishing and redecorating their own flats, including yourself?
Prime Minister:
Well you have just raised the two issues over which the Government has got no control. If the House of Lords votes for additional expenditure on its offices, and the House of Commons votes for that, that is an issue that is not one for the Government I am afraid, that is one for the House of Commons. As far as the Government is concerned, we have just set up a major review on government efficiency to achieve value for money. When I set up the Gershon Review some years ago it promised that there would be cuts of 80,000 in the Civil Service workforce, these cuts are now almost achieved. In the next few days we will roll out a report that civil service numbers are the lowest since 1945. Now that has not often, if I may say so, been reported in the Daily Express, but if you could take note of the fact that the civil service numbers are now being reduced substantially as part of the value for money changes that we are making.
Question:
If you are concerned about families’ finances, why is Britain virtually unique in the world in proposing rises in tax on motorists?
Prime Minister:
We have just frozen the tax on fuel duty and we have done it in most years since 2000, and as I said the percentage of fuel bills, the percentage of the petrol bill paid in tax is going down, not up. And we will do what we can to help people facing difficult times with family finances. But I don’t think anybody is in any doubt that what has actually happened to the oil price is what has been happening in the market place. And when I was Chancellor a few years ago the oil price was $11, it has recently gone up as high as $135. That twelvefold increase in oil prices in any other decade would have sparked a recession in almost every country in which it had happened. The fact that we have been able to keep inflation low while suffering this massive increase in oil prices is a measure of the increased strength and resilience of the British economy. But the fact that oil prices have gone up by tenfold, twelvefold, is a real problem that we have got to deal with on the global stage.
Question:
Prime Minister we are coming up to your first anniversary in the job. It has not been an [indistinct] in your popularity before then, do you ever get upset or hurt about the way things have gone?
Prime Minister:
I think you have got to get up the next day and get on with the job and you have got to continue to do what you think is right for the country. And I have known in the time I have been Chancellor, and before, that you go through periods where you are popular and periods where things are difficult. I think you have got to assure yourself that you are doing the right thing, and I think the right thing is to get through the terrorist legislation, but the right thing also is now to focus our full attention on dealing with the problems that people face as a result of the hit on their families’ finances by the rising price of oil and food, and they will be the issues on which I will focus over the next few weeks, and I believe that is what the British public would want me to do.
Question:
There were press reports that you were going to visit Israel in the next week, and what has happened to this? And do you support the efforts of Turkey to produce a peace agreement between Syria and Israel? And a question about these documents that were found on the train, why did they go to the BBC, a normal person would give them to the police, wouldn’t he?
Prime Minister:
I think the issue is, if I may say so, now with the police but perhaps by a circuitous route, and the police are investigating all the circumstances in which this has happened and whether the document came directly to the BBC or there were other means by which it got there.
As far as your major question, yes I am hoping to visit Israel, it is the 60th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel and there are a number of events surrounding that which I have attended in the United Kingdom, but I hope to visit Israel in the next few weeks. I hope that all our efforts, whether it is the intervention of Turkey or other countries, are focused on what I think is the main issue now that is preventing greater stability in the Middle East and that is creating an agreement between the Israeli people and the Palestinian authorities that will give us a viable Palestinian state while making Israel secure. And I hope the talks that started in Annapolis can continue and yield results, as President Bush has wanted to during the course of this year.
Question:
I wonder if I could ask you about the oil summit you were referring to in Jedda, and what exactly you hope to get out of this with regard to the oil producing countries. You have been very strongly critical of OPEC in the past, what do you want OPEC to do, do you want them to increase production, invest more in renewable technologies in the West, what exactly?
Prime Minister:
If we are going to affect the price of oil then there has got to be a better understanding of the problems of demand and supply. The problems of demand are influenced by which other energy sources we are dependent on. I have said today that Britain is committed to a nuclear programme. Sixteen of the 27 countries in the European Union have a nuclear programme and in most cases it is one that is expanding. If we can see the addiction to oil diminished by greater support for and investment in nuclear, in renewable and in other sources of energy, then people would see for the years to come that demand might not outstrip the supply that is available for oil. And if at the same time we can reduce our dependence on oil by greater energy efficiency, whether it is the electric car, or the plug-in car, then I think people would see a change taking place in what people expected for future years. But there are issues of supply and I have raised them with OPEC before. It is not easy for many investors in some countries to develop the oil industry, and equally we have made it in some cases quite difficult for the oil producers to invest in our countries or other countries where Sovereign Wealth Funds and others want to invest in. So I see this dialogue being very wide ranging, I see it over time affecting the relationship between demand and supply of oil and I think that would have an effect on how people saw both the price now and in the future.
Question:
What is your message to the 100 doctors in Leeds who fear that your plans to impose polyclinics and super surgeries will lead to the closure of existing GP practices and to the privatisation of local services?
Prime Minister:
This is completely wrong and it is an ill-founded allegation. There are 5,000 more General Practitioners than there were 10 years ago, so the numbers of GPs are not falling, they are actually rising. And equally we are investing more money in the GP service, whether it be GPs themselves or whether it be Health Centres with GPs working there. And what the issue at the moment is about is increasing access to primary care, not replacing existing GPs. The issue is we want GPs to open longer hours and we want them to open at weekends and if that is not possible in some cases we want to provide other sources of medical care. So let us be clear, the number of GPs in our country has increased substantially over recent years.
Question:
Prime Minister given your concern about family finances, what are you going to do about the recent rise in child poverty? And accepting that no deals were done on the 42 days, can you say whether during the government’s discussions with the DUP the issue of abortion laws were ever raised?
Prime Minister:
I can say that that was never raised. If I could say about Northern Ireland so that people are absolutely clear, there is a whole set of discussions going on about future issues in Northern Ireland that I hosted last Friday in Downing Street. Previously I visited Northern Ireland to talk to people about the issues ahead, but whether it is the issue you raise, or some of the other issues that people have been raising during the course of the last few hours, I just repeat, I think you are impugning the integrity of the Democratic Unionist Party Members of Parliament by suggesting that they don’t feel strongly about the problems of terrorism. And I feel that they know more than anyone about the effects of terrorism in our country. And so that is what the discussions on the security aspects of terrorism have been about.
You raise the question of child poverty. Since we came into government the number of children in poverty has fallen from 3.5 million in absolute poverty to about 1.8 million. We have not been as successful in cutting relative poverty, but it has fallen by 600,000 since we came to government. And as you may know in the pre-budget report and in the Budget, the Chancellor announced new plans to increase the amount of resources available that will cut child poverty even further. And so over a period of time, from a situation where child poverty had trebled in this country, we now see child poverty over the last 10 years coming down. We have seen a problem over the last two years but we have announced plans to cut child poverty further in the next few years, and we are determined to do what we can either to help single parents to get into work, which will help their children get out of poverty, or where there are people who cannot work for whatever reason. And we are announcing new measures today to encourage people into work and to say that they have got a duty to get skills for work, where people cannot get into work we are determined to do what we can to help these families as well.
Question:
Are you negotiating an agreement with Iraq similar to what the United States is conducting now, following to the expiry of the UN deadline for the mandate of the existence of the current policy on the multinational force? And are you prepared to announce, as has been reported, the full withdrawal before the end of this year from Iraq?
Prime Minister:
You mentioned the United Nations resolution that covers Iraq and that is of course how our actions in Iraq are covered internationally by agreement. We have of course reduced the number of troops that we have in Iraq, we have moved to what some people call an overwatch role, that is mainly training and the supply of the Iraqi forces, and we will continue to train up Iraqi forces so that they are in a position to take responsibility for Basra and for the surrounding area. But I will make a statement on these issues to the House of Commons probably before the summer recess about what we can do for the future.
Question:
In terms of oil supply you seem to be talking largely in terms of under-investment and lack of capacity. I wonder whether you also feel there has been a deliberate decision to under-use the resources they have got. A colleague of yours in Australia said it might be a good idea to put a blow torch to OPEC. You I think have said that the behaviour of OPEC is scandalous, I wonder if you could clarify what you would like more from OPEC?
Prime Minister:
There are issues about how OPEC makes its decisions, and there are issues about whether OPEC could today or tomorrow increase the amount of supply of oil for the world so that we could deal with the problems of demand. I was grateful to the Saudis because they announced a few weeks ago that they would increase the amount of supply they had. But what I am also talking about is not simply supply now, but supply into the future and whether we can find it possible for a wider range of investors in the production and the refining of oil in the oil producing countries so that we can increase supply. But I think in return we will have to give the opportunities to the oil producing countries, that is very substantial revenues, to invest in alternatives to oil in countries such as ours and other countries. So I see a dialogue leading to a better understanding of what each of us can do to help each other over the longer term. But currently of course the criticism of OPEC is that as I believe we want to be able to do more and we want to be able to do more, not just long term into the future, but now.
Question:
Japan is hosting the G8 summit next month and what will be your stance on bio fuels, do you think that the bio fuel cause is [indistinct] and if so do you highlight the biofuels issue at the G8 summit?
Prime Minister:
I met, and I was grateful to do so, the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Fukuda, a few days ago and I talked to him about the preparations for the G8 summit that we are grateful to Japan for hosting. And climate change is on the agenda as one of the major issues. But we will be discussing, as I asked him to do, food and oil and the major problems that people face as a result of rising food and oil prices. We have instructed a study on biofuels, the Gallagher report, that will be published very soon. It will look at the argument that is being put that there has been a diversion of resources out of food into energy in a way that is not helpful to the environment, rather than helpful. These are the questions it is looking at and I hope we will be able to have the findings and the research of that, the evidence about what is happening, before we go to the G8 summit next month.
Question:
Can I get a comment from you Prime Minister on the King Report on the BBC’s reporting of the United Kingdom? Sir Michael Lyons, the Trust Chairman, said the figures showed that Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales were routinely ignored by the coverage. Isn’t this just another example, post-devolution, of the unpicking of the fabric of the United Kingdom?
Prime Minister:
Well we are one United Kingdom and the strength of our country is that all nations of the United Kingdom feel part of it and can contribute to it. And therefore that places a responsibility on a United Kingdom media not just to report the Great British and United Kingdom issues, but also to take into account what is happening in different parts of the country and report them fairly and extensively as well. So there is a balance to be struck between the national reporting of the UK and British issues and the reporting of what is the diversity of policy decisions and lifestyles and other issues in different parts of the United Kingdom. And I think Professor King, I have seen what he plans to recommend, Professor King wants to be assured that while the United Kingdom issues are reported well, so too are the issues that reflect the diversity of the United Kingdom.
Question:
Passing over your disgusting suggestion earlier that journalists don’t take terrorism seriously, can I ask, in yesterday’s meeting [indistinct]
Prime Minister:
I didn’t say that by the way.
Question:
Well certainly that is what I understood. It is a serious matter, it is a disgusting suggestion. In yesterday’s meetings that Ministers had with MPs, in all those meetings were civil service note takers present and will those notes be available on FOI in case we choose to believe those rather than you?
Prime Minister:
I don’t think, from all your great and extensive knowledge of the political system, I don’t think you assume that at every meeting between a Member of Parliament and a government Minister there is always a civil servant note taker. That is not the case.
Question:
At the end of this month several of the famous Labour Party loans become due for repayment. Is your party on the verge of bankruptcy or going into administration?
Prime Minister:
No.
Question:
You have touched on this in two previous questions about the oil price, you focused on the long term alternative, reducing the addiction to oil in the hope that this will have an impact on the short term price. Is there no expectation of an immediate increase in production after the Saudi meeting?
Prime Minister:
Well there is an increase in production because the Saudis have announced that they will put more barrels into production. They announced it only a few days ago, so there is an increase in production. I think what people are looking at is how the additional demand in China, India and Asia, and in the oil producing countries themselves, is going to influence the supply of oil in future years. What people know is that demand in Europe and America will either stall or fall as a result of the increased price, and there is no doubt that the trend is to that happening. But let’s say China has got 37 million cars at the moment, in a few years it will have over 100 million cars, India has just announced the $2,500 car, the £1,000 - £1,200 car and they are producing a million of these cars every year. So the rapid increase in car ownership, in the number of cities, in the number of airports - China is building 100 airports at the moment - means that there will be an increased demand for oil and for fuel from other countries and all these factors have now got to be taken into account as we look to the future. And when I say I believe the price of oil is also influenced by future expectations of demand [indistinct] and supply, I think people are seeing these trends and they know that unless the world gets together and looks at how it can have a more diversified supply of energy, and whether it can do more to reduce the demand for fuel for vehicles and make them more energy efficient, then they have problems ahead. These are some of the issues that we have got to deal with.
Question:
Returning to the Middle East if I may Prime Minister, could you please give us a comment on the Doha agreement on Lebanon, and will this lead to improving relations with Syria in the light of the visit to Damascus last month by a British parliamentary group? And how would your government view peace negotiations between Syria and Israel?
Prime Minister:
Well first of all I welcome the new President’s nomination in Lebanon, I welcome Prime Minister Siniora’s appointment. There is an opportunity now for Lebanese parties to come together and external influence in Lebanon, as we have always said, must be brought to an end. As far as the talks between Israel and other countries are concerned, I have no additional knowledge of how these are progressing but I will obviously take a keen interest in what is happening.
Question:
On the issue of family finances you have provided £2.7 billion to soften the blow of the abolition of the 10p tax rate. I think you are going on to the Labour Party’s National Executive shortly. At that meeting there will be a demand that a similar sum is found next year because it only lasts for one financial year. What will you be able to say to your own Labour Party members and what will you be able to say to families who want to know now in order that they can plan ahead that they will have that cushion next year?
Prime Minister:
Well let me just say that the effect of the 10p rate was one of the issues we dealt with when we brought in the income tax cut for 22 million families. But the change went far wider than simply those who were affected by the 10p rate, and almost anybody who is a British taxpayer who works in Britain and pays income tax in Britain will benefit from the tax cut that is about to happen, and so it went far wider than those affected directly by the 10p rate. And the reason we did that was this is a moment in the economy when it is better for us to help those people facing higher fuel bills and higher food bills, and this is a particular time in the economy where families’ standards of living are under pressure, so we wanted to help people particularly in this year when pressures are clearly there because of high oil prices and high food prices.
Question:
I am wondering what you hope to achieve from your upcoming meeting with President Bush here?
Prime Minister:
President Bush and I will be talking about exactly the issues I have been raising today. Can we get a world trade deal? Protectionist sentiment is rising in every part of the world, it is affecting the price of food and oil because there is so much protectionism. If we can get a world trade deal, perhaps over the next few weeks and perhaps there is just a very narrow window of opportunity to get it, then that will help the world economy move forward. What can we do together on oil and energy to make it possible for the family finances of people in America and in Europe to be in a better position? And of course we will be discussing the other issues that affect the relationship between our two countries. But I think in every country of the world, people are worried about the rising cost of oil and the rising cost of food and that is the major domestic political issue at the moment.
Question:
Prime Minister I understand yesterday the GMB Union rejected any calls for a boycott of Israel. Tomorrow the University Lecturers Union are going to discuss a resolution which got passed which suggested there should be a boycott of Israel. What is the government’s policy, what can the government do to stop these boycott calls and how damaging are they to improving relations in the region?
Prime Minister:
Well we have very good relations ourselves with Israel, I work very closely with Prime Minister Olmert on issues affecting both our joint relationship and the region, and none of us wants to see boycotts of Israel.
Question:
Back to the Lisbon Treaty for a second if I may. Are you determined to end the British ratification process next week in the House of Commons, no matter what the outcome of the Irish referendum will be?
Prime Minister:
Well it has gone through the House of Commons, it is the House of Lords that is now dealing with the issue and I hope that the House of Lords will give the Bill a third reading next week before I go to the European Council. And I believe that members of the House of Lords have indicated that they are in support of this Bill.
Question:
Prime Minister the countries in the Middle East, in Africa and in Asia who have no regard of human rights, have got very strong anti-terrorist laws and a lot of people are held without trial, they have got more terrorists than we have here, and the more oppressive laws they introduce the more terrorists they suffer. Don’t you see that last night’s vote will pull the moral rug from under your feet when you try to help people oppressed by regimes like Mugabe and like the Burmese Junta?
Prime Minister:
Well I just don’t accept that at all. You have got to act against terrorism and you have got to act strongly against terrorism and I don’t accept that a law that gives the police the power to detain people for questioning after arrest and before charge has the effect that you are talking about. What would be worse is if we had to come to the House of Commons in a moment of panic or emergency after a terrorist incident and either had to declare a state of emergency or had to ask for emergency powers, that would be giving oxygen to terrorists that you are talking about, that would be an incident where through having to declare a state of emergency terrorists would have achieved some of the things that they wanted to achieve in embarrassing or destabilising a country. I would prefer to have in a calm and ordered way a process set in place where we as a nation have laws on our statute book that in the event of a serious, exceptional and grave terrorist incident we know exactly what we can do, and would do, in the circumstances in which we found ourselves. So I think the way we are going about it is the right way to do in a calm and ordered way what you would prefer not to have to do if there was a major incident.
Question:
Prime Minister last week you met some of your MPs to discuss a miners compensation issue for arthritis in the knee, irrespective of the proximity to the 42 days vote. Are you minded to introduce such a compensation package?
Prime Minister:
There is a report to be published soon on this issue and I think we are waiting for the findings of this report about osteoarthritis and whether it is classified as an industrial disease.
Question:
Prime Minister regarding the G8 summit are you hoping to get more pledges for an increase of oil or will you be focusing mainly on long term strategic plans to diversify energy supply? And if I may ask a second brief question, just regarding the US-Iraqi agreement on the status of forces, are you being informed by the Americans or do you expect President Bush to give you any details about these negotiations?
Prime Minister:
Obviously we will keep in touch with what is happening in negotiations between America and Iraq and we will be informed and talk to the President about what is happening. As far as your first question is concerned, I am not going to Jedda expecting that there is a short term change in production and that is all that we are talking about, I am going to Jedda because I want to see the long term and medium term changes that are necessary to influence both the price of oil now and in the future. And I believe that there is not yet a full appreciation round the world of the scale of what other countries, including us, are planning to do to diversify out of oil, and I think there is not yet an understanding of what all of us as countries will have to do to reduce the demand for oil by greater measures of energy efficiency to achieve the climate change objectives that we have. And I think we need a better understanding of the problems that we face as consumers and a better understanding of the challenges that are faced by producers. I believe that this has been missing from the debate and so to some extent what I am trying to do is change the terms of the debate which has been narrowly focused on what you can produce today. It should be focused on what is likely to happen to the whole supply of energy in future years and what are going to be the effects obviously of the climate change agenda on the demand for energy in future years as well.
Question:
Prime Minister if you returned soldiers from Basra by the end of this year, it is said that the vacuum will be filled by Iran. Do you think that is the case and if it is what are you going to do?
Prime Minister:
Let me be absolutely clear. The purpose of our actions in Basra is that local Iraqi troops can be the armed forces that are responsible for the security there, and that local trained police forces can be responsible for the conventional security and policing of the area. And we are determined to train up and to help equip the Iraqi forces and the Iraqi police forces to do the job of security in the area. And I think you will see that in recent weeks when there were the incidents in Basra, that many of the private militias were forced out as a result of the action both of the Iraqi troops and the support by American and British troops. So our policy of overwatch is to hand over the responsibilities that we have had for the Iraqi security in the Basra and surrounding area to Iraqi people that are part of the Iraqi army, under the responsibility of the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi police forces under the responsibility of the local provincial government. Now that is what we intend to do and that is what we will do.
Question:
Prime Minister you said that the world as a whole has to build 1,000 new nuclear power stations. Can any of those be in Scotland?
Prime Minister:
These are matters for decision. As you know we have got a consultation document out on this, we have made a decision that we wish to replace our nuclear power stations, that is a matter for debate within the United Kingdom, including the debate on our planning legislation. What I was quoting was the International Energy Authority and the work that they have done, saying that we need about 1,000 new nuclear power stations in all parts of the world. And I have just got to tell you, I was with African leaders this week, we had a meeting of the Commonwealth Group that is looking at the reform of global governments, and this group were telling me about the challenges that they face in supplying energy in Africa and the considerations about nuclear power that are growing there. If you go to China they are building more nuclear power stations, in India they are doing the same, many countries in Europe are planning either to expand or to replace their nuclear capacity. This is a debate that is happening in all parts of the world. But what hasn’t happened is that people have got together and understood what the future price of oil is likely to be in circumstances where you have more diversification of energy and more efficient use of oil and therefore changes in the pattern of demand. So that is what it is about. The debate in the United Kingdom continues, but we are convinced of the need to replace our existing nuclear power stations and I am moving ahead with that policy now.
Question:
With an oil tanker strike looming, are you concerned about panic buying and what is your message to British motorists?
Prime Minister:
That we will do everything in our power to ensure the proper supply of oil and energy, and I believe that even at this stage the talks that are taking place should, and I want them to resolve this dispute, but we will continue to do everything in our power to make sure that the British consumer gets the energy that they need.
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