Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Iraq, Fire Dispute, Hunting, European Constitution and ID cards.
Iraq
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) informed journalists that it was his sad duty to advise them of a British fatality in Iraq. He said that the MoD was releasing full details. The Prime Minister was deeply saddened by the death. We had always been aware that the work our troops did in Iraq was both dangerous and valuable. The Prime Minister himself had always been fully aware of the risks that our soldiers undertook and believed that their work was to be valued highly.
Fire Dispute
Asked if he would agree that the ‘ragged ending’ of the national fire dispute last year had sown the seeds for the strike action we were seeing today, the PMOS said it was important to recognise that there had been an agreement and it was now up to both sides to sort out the current situation. We hoped that it would be resolved very quickly. Strikes were clearly not the way forward, as the national strikes last year showed. The only way to deal with any disagreement was through sensible discussion. The pay deal was a generous settlement, above inflation and above many other public sector pay deals. As we had underlined throughout the national dispute, we believed that the fire service had to modernise and become safer and more efficient. We hoped that the current situation would be resolved quickly. Questioned as to whether the strikes today were legal, the PMOS said that he was not a legal expert and would leave it to lawyers to decide such matters. The important point was that the strikes were not going to resolve the issue. That could only be done through discussion.
Asked if the Government was satisfied with the state of the present employment law given the fact that this was the second wildcat strike in the seven days, and whether we believed that employers should do more to enforce the law, the PMOS said that it was not up to the Government to dictate what employers should or should not do. The important point was that the postal worker strikes had come to an end and the matter had been resolved. We wanted both sides in the fire dispute to resolve the current situation as quickly as possible without further strike action, because that was what the public wanted.
Hunting
Asked if the Prime Minister remained committed to the Hunting Bill, the PMOS said that his colleague had dealt with the issue at length at yesterday’s briefing. He had said that it was important to pause, look at what had happened in the House of Lords and then decide how to take things forward from there. Asked if the Prime Minister was considering reintroducing the Bill, the PMOS said that we would reflect on the outcome in the House of Lords and then decide how to move forward on this issue.
European Constitution
Asked about the concerns expressed by the Chancellor today about the dangers posed by the draft European Constitution, the PMOS said that tax harmonisation and fiscal harmonisation were two issues which, as we had underlined repeatedly, were red lines for us. We did not believe that the final draft of the Constitution would cross them. It was right for the Chancellor to repeat our position on the issue today in the light of the fact that he was attending a meeting of ECOFIN in Brussels where the topic was being discussed. Equally, it was important to recognise that we were not alone in holding that position. On each of our red lines, we were supported by a substantial weight of opinion within the EU. That was the difference between our current position and our old one. We should not allow the ‘us versus the rest of the EU’ caricature of the past colour our assessment of where we were now. The important thing was to recognise what our red lines were, understand that we were confident they would not be crossed and then proceed from there.
ID Cards
Questioned as to whether the Cabinet Committee on ID cards would be meeting this week to discuss the issue, the PMOS said that further discussions were planned for this week, but it would not be helpful to pre-empt them.
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