Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Rugby Reception, Queen’s Speech, Tuition Fees, Guantanamo Bay and Northern Ireland.
Rugby Reception
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) briefed journalists on some of the details relating to this evening’s Rugby reception in Downing Street this evening. He said that the England squad would be met on their arrival in the street by four hundred school children from thirty specialist sports colleges across London. He underlined that our sole aim was to recognise the fantastic achievement of the players and backroom staff. We hoped they would have a good day.
Asked which Ministers would be attending, the PMOS said that the list had not yet been finalised. However, those who had confirmed their attendance included Tessa Jowell and Richard Caborn. He took the opportunity to add that, as he understood it, the Leader of the Opposition would also be present. Asked when that had been arranged, the PMOS said that Mr Howard’s office had been in contact with Downing Street this morning. We had been perfectly happy to accommodate him. Asked if Charles Kennedy would be attending, the PMOS said that we hadn’t heard from him yet. If he wanted to contact us, he was very welcome to do so. Asked what sort of party it was that people had to call Downing Street and ask for an invitation, the PMOS said the important thing today was to focus on the players, their partners and backroom staff. It had not been common practice in the past to have members of the Opposition at Government receptions. However, because we didn’t want any controversy and did not want to do anything that would take attention away from the players, we had decided on this occasion that if the Opposition wanted to come, that was fine with us. Asked if other Opposition members would be attending the reception, the PMOS said that Julie Kirkbride and Don Foster had both contacted us and we had said that they would be welcome to attend. Questioned about reports suggesting that they were being forced to come in through the Cabinet Office entrance, the PMOS said that we had been trying to be helpful so that people wouldn’t have to queue to come in through the front door or get held up in the Street given the presence of four hundred school children. Asked if the Prime Minister would welcome the team on the doorstep of Number 10. the PMOS said no. As the RFU themselves had confirmed yesterday, there had never been any such plan.
Asked why the Prime Minister, who was Scottish-born, was holding reception to celebrate the victory of the England rugby team, the PMOS said that we had heard this churlish suggestion before. The Prime Minister had always made it clear that he supported England in football and rugby. Asked why the Parliamentary rugby team - and those who knew more about the sport than others - had not been invited to the reception, the PMOS said that the nation would expect the Government to honour what was a unique achievement. That was precisely what we were doing. We would suggest that people simply enjoyed the day, rather than try to stir up non-existent controversies.
Queen’s Speech
Asked for a reaction to reports suggesting a forthcoming shake-up of the Parliamentary Calendar, including changes to the Queen’s Speech, the PMOS said that it wasn’t the case. He pointed out that Lord Falconer had answered all these points in his Today Programme interview this morning. Questioned as to whether the Leader of the House might take these ideas forward in the Modernisation Committee, the PMOS repeated that Lord Falconer had set out the Government’s position this morning.
Tuition Fees
Asked again to confirm that the issue of variability was not ‘up for grabs’ in the discussions which were currently ongoing, the PMOS said that that was correct. He took the opportunity to underline once again the point that tuition fees would remove the financial burden from the parents of pre-university students to graduates after their university degrees who would be able to repay what they owed in a fair way. Self-evidently, variability meant that some courses, such as medicine, would cost more than others. However, within the universities themselves, the fees would no doubt be used to attract people to courses, such as engineering, which might be perceived to be under-utilised. It was important to recognise that it was the universities themselves which had argued the case for variable fees because of the flexibility it gave them. They saw it as a way of managing demand within the system for courses that they wanted to promote. Asked about the issue of variability between universities, the PMOS said that the same argument applied.
Questioned about the repayment of fees by students from poorer backgrounds, the PMOS said that one of the clear advantages of the system being proposed over a graduate tax, for example, was that it would allow us to help students from poorer backgrounds by identifying in advance those who needed financial assistance. Under the present proposals, those affected would know in advance that they would not have to pay the fees. Obviously a lot of work was being done on this issue, as you would expect. Further details would emerge when the Bill was published.
Asked if he was implying that the Government would help people from poorer backgrounds who went on to have successful careers in the city, for example, but would not help those from a middle-class background who went on to work as teachers, the PMOS said that, at the moment, there was an imbalance in universities in favour of people from a middle-class background. The Government believed it was important to try to break that cycle and achieve a more balanced representation. That was precisely why it felt it should do more to encourage people from poorer backgrounds to attend university at the same time as increasing the number of places on courses. Access was therefore an important part of the argument. Asked if the answer to the previous question was yes, the PMOS said we had never hidden the fact that this was part of the argument. For those from a middle-class background, how much was repaid would depend on how much was earned and would be adjusted accordingly. Those from poorer backgrounds would not have to repay anything. Questioned as to whether the purpose of the Government’s proposals was to reduce the number of people from middle-class backgrounds attending university, the PMOS said no, of course not. We were increasing the number of places at universities so that we didn’t have to make that kind of false choice. People should be allowed to attend university if they had the ability to do so. We were increasing the number of places at the same time as doing all we could to make the balance within universities more representative of the population as a whole than it was at present.
Put to him that those from poorer backgrounds would need financial help to get through university rather than retrospectively once they had jobs, the PMOS pointed out that our aim was to try to remove any perceived disincentives which currently prevented people from poorer backgrounds from attending university. Put to him that people from poorer backgrounds were less likely to attend university than their middle-class counterparts because they tended to get lower A-level results, the PMOS said that that was precisely why the Government was investing so much money in secondary school education. However, given the intensity of global competition, it would be invidious just to invest in the earlier stages of education. Obviously we had to invest in higher education as well, which was exactly what we were doing.
Guantanamo Bay
Asked the current position on the British detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the PMOS said that there had been no further developments on this issue, as far as he was aware. Asked if it had been discussed at Cabinet last Thursday, the PMOS said no. Put to him that the Home Secretary was reported to have expressed his anxiety to colleagues that the British detainees would not face trial in the UK if they did return, the PMOS pointed out that last Thursday’s Cabinet had been taken up largely with the issue of tuition fees.
Northern Ireland
Asked when Ian Paisley would be coming in to see the Prime Minister, the PMOS said that a date had not yet been finalised. That said, he could confirm that the meeting would take place before Christmas.
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