Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Tuition Fees, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, NHS, Northern Ireland and EU Defence.
Tuition Fees
Asked if the timing for the Bill on tuition fees had been decided yet, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that a final decision on this had not yet been taken. As soon as the discussions had concluded, we would let people know. We hoped that would happen shortly. In a spirit of helpfulness, he added that he could confirm that the Second Reading of the Bill would be either before or after Christmas. Questioned as to whether the discussions that had yet to be concluded included discussions with universities and other interested parties, the PMOS said that the timing of the introduction of legislation to Parliament was a decision that would be taken by the Business Managers and Ministers.
In answer to further questions, the PMOS underlined that the Government remained fully committed to its reforms on higher education finance. It believed that these reforms were right, fair and the best solution to a difficult problem. There was no question of backing away from them. Of course there would be discussion about some of the detail. However, the principles were set firm: the abolition of upfront fees, the introduction of variable fees up to £3,000 repaid by the individual after graduation, measures to improve access and increase student numbers with more help for those from those families with lower incomes. Asked if he was indicating that the question of at what point fees repayment started and the number of people who would be exempted from it were up for discussion, the PMOS repeated that the principles were set firm. Some of the detail, however, was open to discussion in the usual way. It would not be helpful to go any further prior to the publication of the Bill.
Asked to explain what had changed since the Queen’s Speech that the Government did not feel ‘able to push ahead’ with this ‘flagship’ Bill, the PMOS said that he would dispute absolutely the premise of the question. After any Queen’s Speech, it was never the case that every single Bill was published the following day. It was a programme for a full session of Parliament. There was always a sequencing to these things. No one should doubt the Government’s resolve to get the higher education finance measures on to the statute book. Timetabling issues would be sorted out in due course. Put to him that reports of six concessions would suggest an element of ill preparedness on the part of the Government, the PMOS said that he would disagree. He repeated that the principles, which he had already set out, were set firm. As with any piece of legislation, there was an opportunity for the issues to be examined between the publication of the White Paper and the drafting of the Bill and for amendments to be tabled during the passage of the Bill itself. That said, no one should doubt the Government’s determination to see this through, for the reasons which had been set out over the weekend by Charles Clarke and many times in the past by the Prime Minister and other Ministers.
Asked if the delay would allow time for meetings between Ministers and Backbenchers to talk through the issues, the PMOS said that he was unable to rule anything in or out as regards timing. People needed to exercise a little patience. When we had something to say, we would say it. Questioned as to whether Ministers and Backbenchers would hold meetings to discuss the Bill, the PMOS pointed out that meetings between Ministers and Backbenchers took place the whole time.
Asked whether one reason for the delay was because the Government was afraid that the Second Reading of the Bill could coincide with the publication of the Hutton report, the PMOS said that there was the normal discussion about the timetabling of the Legislative Programme.
Asked if the Prime Minister regarded the ‘rebels’ as wrong or people who might have some interesting ideas to contribute, the PMOS said that we would wait and see how things panned out as the Bill went through. The Prime Minister continued to believe absolutely that it was necessary to reform student finance. Clearly, there was no easy solution and discussion would always focus on what proportion of funding should be met by the individual and what proportion should be met by the State. It went without saying that our universities needed more money. Equally, we wanted to see more people going to university to provide this country with the necessary skills base to ensure our competitiveness in the global economy. We also had to do more to ensure that those from disadvantaged backgrounds were given more opportunity. As demonstrated already by some of the Universities themselves, such as Cambridge, this was clearly an issue that was being taken seriously in terms of bursaries.
Asked for a reaction to a BBC survey which had revealed that all university Vice-Chancellors would set their fees at the upper end of the scale and whether the principle of variable fees would survive such an act, the PMOS said that we would wait and see what action universities would take following the passage of the Bill. Asked if the Government envisaged all universities setting their fees at £3,000, the PMOS said that the Government envisaged giving universities the option to set fees within the range up to £3,000. Asked if he was saying that it was possible we could end up with a one-tier system, the PMOS repeated that we would wait and see what action universities took. He pointed out that not all courses cost the same amount.
Guantanamo Bay
Asked to confirm reports that the British detainees being held in Guantanamo Bay would be home soon, the PMOS said that the position on the detainees had not really changed since the Prime Minister’s press conference with President Bush and his words in the House several weeks ago. Two options were being considered. Either they would be tried by a Military Commission in the US or alternatively they would be brought back to the UK. Discussions were still ongoing and had not yet finally concluded. In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had indicated that this would be resolved ‘at some point or other’. Precisely when that might be, however, he was not able to predict.
Iraq
Asked the Prime Minister’s reaction to the death of two Japanese diplomats in Iraq at the weekend, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister was obviously very saddened as he had also been by the death of several Spanish officials. What was absolutely clear, however, was the message being sent by the respective Governments who were determined to see this through. The Coalition - be it UK, US, Spanish or Japanese - was not going to be bombed or intimidated out of Iraq. It was going to keep its eye very firmly on the prize of a democratic and prosperous country for the Iraqi people by the Iraqi people.
Asked if the Government was concerned that the ongoing attacks would ‘kill off’ any prospects of widening the Coalition, the PMOS pointed out that there were more contributors to the Coalition than there had been some months ago. Clearly the international community as a whole, as demonstrated at the Madrid donors’ conference, wanted to help the Iraqi people onto their feet and look forward to a more prosperous future. We acknowledged that there were bound to be setbacks and tragic deaths, just as there were bound to be individuals inside Iraq who wished to turn the clock back and visit murder and mayhem on the Iraqi people as well as the Coalition. We had to ensure that we continued to stand firm and get on not only with improvements to the security situation but also the political situation, given that we now had a new timetable towards which everyone was working. For example, following the deaths of several Italian Caribinieri a few weeks ago and Spanish officials at the weekend, both Prime Minister Berlusconi and Prime Minister Aznar had indicated an iron determination not to let the terrorists and renegade murderers win.
NHS
Asked Downing Street’s reaction to Harriet Sergeant’s description of the NHS in the Daily Telegraph today, the PMOS said that he hadn’t read the piece and nor had he heard it discussed today. However, he would draw journalists’ attention to the Nuffield Report on the NHS which had been published last week. The Chief Executive of the NHS, Sir Nigel Crisp, would give a progress report on Wednesday. Nobody was saying that everything was perfect in the health service. However, there had been significant improvement, which was a tribute to the hard work of NHS staff up and down the country. We firmly believed that the extra investment that was going in was producing results.
Northern Ireland
Asked if the Prime Minister was planning any meetings with the Northern Ireland party leaders and the Taoiseach ahead of the EU Summit next week, the PMOS said that he was not aware of any meetings taking place this week between the party leaders and the Prime Minister. However, the Prime Minister would no doubt be in contact with them at some point before Christmas. Paul Murphy, the Northern Ireland Secretary, was meeting the DUP today and the British and Irish Governments had put out a joint statement on Friday. It went without saying that we wanted to get the Executive up and running again as quickly as possible.
EU Defence
Asked if the Prime Minister had briefed President Bush on the latest EU defence plans and whether we were standing by the proposals drawn up with France and Germany which had circulated on Friday, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister and President Bush had not spoken in recent days. As was well known, we had been working very closely with France and Germany on European defence for some months. We had always envisaged that the three countries would put forward a draft document to the Presidency for discussion with our European partners as a whole, since this was obviously something that had to be agreed by all twenty five. Our ideas were in draft form. We were now in touch with partners and key allies before we put them forward officially. As we had underlined from the outset, we were seeking to strengthen European defence and do so in a way that did not undermine NATO. We continued to believe this could be achieved.
In answer to further questions, the PMOS said that as Jack Straw had set out at the weekend, we wanted to ensure that we had the flexibility to deal with different situations so that when NATO, as a whole, was not engaged there was a role for European defence. Mr Straw had taken the opportunity to depict some of the different conflicts which had arisen over recent years and the way they had been dealt with. For example, Kosovo had been a wholly NATO operation, Sierra Leone had been UK-only, Iraq had been a Coalition of the Willing, Macedonia had been Berlin Plus i.e. an EU operation using NATO assets, the Congo had been an EU autonomous operation. Obviously we had to address all the issues, but in doing so it was important to keep the central principle - namely to do nothing which would undermine NATO - in mind.
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