Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Northern Ireland, Iraq, MOD and Airport Tax.
Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) released a statement this morning outlining the current status of the Northern Ireland peace discussions. Asked why it had been put out given that there was no new information in the statement, the PMOS said that it was a statement by the British Government formally announcing - if you like - that we would not be able to reach an agreement before the elections in line with David Trimble’s similar sentiments yesterday evening. Asked if this formal statement had been asked for by some of the parties involved, the PMOS said not as far as he knew. It simply made sense to set out where we were after the intensive discussions in recent days. It had been accepted that although there had been a lot of efforts behind the scenes in recent days and a lot of contacts and conversation, nevertheless we weren’t going to be able to reach an agreement that everybody wanted to reach before November 26th that would have meant the restoration of the institutions. Asked if the Assembly would actually meet after the election, the PMOS said we should have to wait and see what the elections held. Obviously we would want the Executive up and running as quickly as possible but obviously we could only do that with consensus. Asked to clarify that the statement was saying that the Government accepted that we weren’t going to reach agreement before the elections but we would have the elections nonetheless whilst continuing to look for a way through, the PMOS said that he would not dissent from that. The PMOS went on to say that we should not lose sight of what had been achieved last week. There had been a significant act of decommissioning. There had been a statement by Sinn Fein, endorsed by the IRA and there had been real engagement between the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein. However for reasons that were well documented, we weren’t able to reach agreement on all the issues we would have liked. There had been a lot of effort over the last few days to try and resolve those issues, but it had been clear for a little time now that it would be unlikely. This statement formally acknowledged that, but we would obviously return to them.
Asked what the point of having elections was if the Executive was not going to meet, the PMOS said that the desire was to ensure that after the elections we could get an Executive up and running and restore devolved government to Northern Ireland. However we should wait and see the result of the elections as to how we moved forward from that point. On the surface it may look as though things had not come together as we would have liked - that was true - but underneath we should not ignore the progress that had been made. We were further forward today than we had been at this point last week. Asked whether the Prime Minister would encourage people in Northern Ireland to vote for pro-agreement parties, the PMOS said people would make up their own minds.
Asked about John de Chastelain’s comments that the Prime Minister had not been given full details on the destruction of IRA weapons, the PMOS referred journalists to comments he had made about this yesterday morning. The PMOS also reminded journalists that Jane Kennedy had dealt with this in the House of Commons yesterday. The Prime Minister had had good reason to say what he had said to the House. The PMOS also pointed again to the Taoiseach’s comments on Friday in Dublin where, broadly speaking, he had said the same thing.
Iraq
Asked whether the latest violence in Iraq was a result of external terrorists using Iraq as a battleground with the West or Saddam remnants, the PMOS reminded journalists what he had said yesterday and what the Prime Minister had said in the past. Sir Jeremy Greenstock had indicated this morning that there were indications that there was a foreign element in yesterday’s attacks. The use of suicide attacks in the way they had been was something more associated with foreign terrorists than Saddam loyalists. We did not know for sure however and obviously there were still investigations being carried out by the Coalition Provisional Authority into responsibility for yesterday’s atrocities. We shouldn’t, however, overlook the fact that there were still the remnants of the Saddam regime who continued to visit ill on their own people. The international community had to, and would, stand firm in the face of this aggression.
Asked if the Government now believed that conflict had now become much wider than it had previously expected it to be, the PMOS said that it was important that what we said was as evidence based as it could be and we didn’t rush to judgement. Equally, it was the case that Iraq was a place to which foreign terrorists might gravitate, we had to do all we could collectively to counter them. That said, terrible though events of yesterday were, they shouldn’t mask the progress that had been made in large parts of the country. There was obviously a particular security problem in Baghdad and in some of the areas surrounding Baghdad, but there was a very high degree of normality returning to the South and other parts of Iraq. We just had to see this through. There were fanatical terrorist groups who wished ill on the West and they had been operating for many months as had been most graphically and brutally demonstrated a couple of years ago. They had not gone away. There had been significant efforts made with some considerable success to tackle them. That fight continued. What remained undiminished was our resolve to see this through and to build a better, more prosperous Iraq for the Iraqi people, by the Iraqi people.
MOD
Asked if the armed forces were facing considerable cuts and if the MOD was asking for more money from the Treasury, the PMOS said that the MOD had issued a response to that last night. Geoff Hoon had said in the House of Commons on the 16th October that all departments had to deal with fluctuating financial pressures and to live within their budgets. The Ministry of Defence was no exception. They had said that there had been various pressures on the budget, for example more successful recruiting, which had affected the demands on the budget, and they also had had to address issues such as Resource Accounting and Budgeting. Asked again, the PMOS said that there were the usual discussions that happened between all Government departments and the Treasury. He was not aware of anything over and above what always took place at this time of year. He told journalists to talk to the MOD regarding their Resource Accounting and Budgeting.
Airport Tax
Asked whether airport tax would double the PMOS said tax issues were addressed at the usual time. That answer would be given to virtually any question that might be put to him about tax, as journalists knew well.
delicious
digg
facebook
