Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Council Tax, Electoral Reform, EU Constitution and Beverley Hughes.
Council Tax
Asked if the Prime Minister had received his annual Council Tax bill, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said he would never consider it part of his job to enquire about the Prime Minister’s personal financial arrangements. Questioned on the broader issue of Council Tax rises, the PMOS said that that the Government was expecting all the figures to be in by the 18th March. The Government would announce any decision in respect of capping subsequent to that. What we made clear at the time of the CIPFA survey was that the figures were an improvement on what they had been in previous years. Ministers had underlined that they did have powers in respect of capping and we would wait to see the final figures.
Electoral Reform
Asked if the Cabinet was backing a Proportional Representation system for elections in the light of Peter Hain’s comments, the PMOS said not as far as he knew. From memory he thought there was a commitment to have a look at some of the issues, but only after the forthcoming elections this year. Cabinet had not discussed it recently though.
EU Constitution
Asked if the Prime Minister agreed with President Chirac that the EU Constitution would be finalised this year, the PMOS said that it was a statement of fact that we had been unable to reach agreement at the December Council in Brussels because of the deadlock on vote weighting. The Irish Presidency was discussing with EU partners how we could take this forward. It was apparent from the Prime Minister’s discussion with the Taoiseach last week that there would be no substantial movement at the forthcoming Council but no one had expected that to be the case. The Presidency was still discussing where things stood. Clearly there had been a change of government within Spain in the last week. In answer to further questions, he said there was no need to rehearse the issues which the UK had flagged up as ‘Red Lines’, because they were very well known and set out in the White Paper issued last year. The PMOS pointed out that in the Council discussion under the Italian Presidency which obviously hadn’t concluded successfully in December, there had been broad agreement about the issues on which we had expressed concern. The Prime Minister had said at the time that we accepted that given nothing was agreed until everything was agreed, that wasn’t binding, but certainly the soundings and the points of view being raised at that time were, from our point of view, going in the right direction.
Asked how high a priority the Government rated a new Constitution, the PMOS said it was obviously an issue which was on the European agenda and we had said in the past that to set out the limits of competence for the European Union in one document would be helpful and it would enable an EU of 25 to function more effectively. In terms of where we were in this debate, the stumbling block had not been the British position. At the last European Council there was deadlock among other nations on vote weighting. We had to see whether there was any movement in that area before we could start predicting timescales as to when this might conclude.
Asked if the Government shared the optimism the Taoiseach expressed last week, the PMOS said in terms of the Irish presidency we would have to wait and see. There had been a change of government in Spain. Spain had been one of the countries involved in that particular discussion which ultimately were unsuccessful. We had to be patient. Clearly we would continue to engage constructively with our European partners and try and move things forward.
Asked if the change of administration in Spain would have a significant affect on the progress of the EU Constitution, the PMOS said he did not speak for the Spanish Government. His job was not to be an analyst of political trends in other European countries. There had been a change of government in Spain. Spain had been involved in the detailed discussion on the voting issue which had been ultimately inconclusive and Prime Minister elect Zapatero had not as yet formed his coalition, so we had to be patient and wait for the Spanish to reach a view. Put to him that the British Government should have a view on the effects of the change in the Spanish administration, the PMOS said, that with all due respect, it was a question to be put to the Spanish Government, not to the British Government. In terms of our position in that debate, we would engage constructively to move things forward. We would have to wait and see how things turned out. The PMOS reminded journalists that also we were not the Presidency. Convenient though it would be for him to have a crystal ball and predict how things would pan out in the next few months, the PMOS said he simply did not know, and would not pretend he had any greater insight into the issues than the journalists present. Asked if the Government was concerned, the PMOS said it was an issue for the Presidency of the EU, in this instance the Irish Government, who were discussing and working this through with their European colleagues. We would play a constructive part but this debate was not centred on the UK.
Asked if the Prime Minister would like to see the Constitution ratified before the end of this year, the PMOS said that the question was - ‘could the issue which was the stumbling block in December be resolved to the satisfaction of those countries engaged in that particular debate.’ He couldn’t predict where other countries were going to be in the months to come. The UK would engage constructively on this. Asked the question again, the PMOS said that a desire was one thing, but the reality of the situation was another. This was something where the talks had broken down over a particular issue and it was for the Presidency to conduct the delicate negotiations with the countries concerned in the first instance to see how this could be moved forward. There was an acknowledgment in terms of the Council next week, that although the issue would no doubt arise it was never expected that everything would be resolved there.
Asked if the Government’s policy was still that there would be no referendum on the Constitution, the PMOS said that our policy on this was entirely as we had set out before. Put to him that it was odd that he was not prepared to elaborate, he said that he remembered he had answered a question on this issue in a previous briefing, when his language had been ever so slightly different and that had led to all sorts of spurious referendum stories, so he would refer journalists to what the Prime Minister had said most recently. The position had not changed since then.
Beverley Hughes
Asked why David Blunkett had made an announcement in the Commons today in place of Beverley Hughes, the PMOS said he did not know but he would not interpret any significance into that whatsoever.
Asked if the Prime Minister thought that the Immigration Minister was doing a good job, the PMOS said yes. The Prime Minister thinks that she is a first class Minister, handling an extremely difficult brief very well as evidenced by the significant fall in asylum applications in the last year. That was not to say there weren’t big challenges which the Government was rolling up its sleeves and addressing.
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