Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Crime/Local Elections, Economy, Northern Ireland, Europe and Digital TV.
Crime/Local Elections
In answer to questions about David Blunkett’s funding announcement to tackle crime today, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it was about targeting money as part of the overall coherent strategy for tackling crime.
There was a total funding package of over £340m. £180m of that was new money in the Budget, £100m was from the Criminal Justice Reserve and over £60m was being reallocated from the current Home Office Budget. £67m was being targeted at street crime to help intensify the Street Crime Initiative in the ten Metropolitan areas, £194m was aimed at dealing with persistent offenders and £87m was being directed towards terrorism measures.
Asked whether David Blunkett should be making this announcement on the day before the Local Elections, the PMOS pointed out that it was part of the Government’s overall anti-crime strategy. It was not party political. It was focussing on the issue in the round.
Asked why the announcement could not have waited until next week in order to avoid any appearance of the Government trying to influence the Local Elections, the PMOS said that particular crime issues had been highlighted in recent days in large parts of the media. It was therefore right for the Government to continue with its coherent strategy and point out how it was tackling the issue and targeting the money. Overall crime had fallen by 21%.
However, we recognised that there were particular street crime and persistent offender issues which had to be dealt with. Consequently, it was right for us to continue to underline our commitment to deal with the problem, and explain how we were doing so.
Put to him that today’s funding announcement was an ‘election bribe’, the PMOS said that he would disagree in the strongest terms. Money was being targeted at particular issues which were important for us to address, including stepping up police operations, fast-tracking court cases, breaking the link between drugs and crime, dealing with offenders on remand, providing effective measures to tackle persistent juvenile offending, as well as a number of measures to counter terrorist activity.
Put to him that Tessa Jowell had put off making an announcement on Wembley until after the Local Elections and that that should have been done in this case too, the PMOS said that Wembley was a different matter because it related to a particular locality.
Put to him that Wembley was about a National Stadium, the PMOS pointed out that Wembley had particular reference to Brent and other areas involved in the bidding process, such as Birmingham.
Challenged that the money going towards fighting crime was being targeted at specific areas too, the PMOS said that we had talked in the past about the importance of recognising that there were problems in particular Metropolitan areas. That was precisely why we were focussing the anti-street crime measures on those parts of the country. However, today’s announcement was not just about street crime. It was part of overall package which also dealt with persistent offenders and terrorism measures.
Asked to explain how an announcement could fall foul of Purdah, the PMOS said that that would happen if it was aimed exclusively at a particular area. Today’s announcement was focussing on the issue of crime in the round. Questioned as to whether Mr Blunkett’s announcement would have been cleared with the Electoral Commission, the PMOS said that the process would have been conducted within the guidelines.
Economy
Asked to comment on a report by the NIESR which alleged that there was a £15m black hole in the nation’s finances because the Chancellor had miscalculated, the PMOS said that he hadn’t seen the report and suggested journalists should speak to the Treasury.
Questioned as to whether we had drawn up a shortlist to appoint the next Governor for the Bank of England, the PMOS said that we never discussed appointment procedures.
Northern Ireland
Asked to confirm reports that the Prime Minister would be visiting Northern Ireland tomorrow, the PMOS said that we never discussed the Prime Minister’s movements in advance.
Europe
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with Chris Patten’s view that he was ‘caught like a rabbit in the headlights of the single currency issue’ and that Britain’s position on the Euro was shameful, the PMOS said that in fairness to Chris Patten, it should also be pointed out that he had welcomed many of the Government’s approaches to Europe and had recognised that the Government had seriously engaged with the EU.
Equally, the Prime Minister was of the view that it was to this country’s advantage to have someone of the calibre of Mr Patten as a European Commissioner. However, we would disagree with Mr Patten’s assessment of Britain’s position on the single currency. There was no contradiction between on the one hand engaging with Europe, and at the same time standing up for this country’s national interests. The two were inter-linked. Our approach to the Euro was based on the five economic tests which were designed to ensure that they were in the interests of this country.
Digital TV
In answer to questions about ITV Digital, the PMOS said that the ITC would now put the licence out to tender. As he understood it, a number of potential bidders had expressed an interest. Asked whether the Government’s 2006/2010 target for an analogue switch-off was still in place, the PMOS said that the Government’s Digital policy was a long-term policy. We had no intention of being diverted from it by short-term events. We believed our strategy was still viable and that the targets could be achieved.
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