Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Northern Ireland, Winter Pressures, Key Worker Housing Programme, European Constitution, Portugal, Beach Volleyball and Appointments.
Northern Ireland
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) advised journalists that the Prime Minister would be in Belfast today. He would have lunch with the Taoiseach, following which there would be meetings with the parties - the DUP, SDLP, UUP, Alliance, PUP, Sinn Fein and UKUP. A press conference would take place later this afternoon.
Asked the purpose of the visit today, the PMOS said that the two Prime Ministers were going to Belfast in an effort to inject some momentum into the process. The meetings were not expected to run on late into the evening, as they had done on occasions in the past. Nor were any immediate announcements expected. The two leaders would want to take the opportunity to underline that paramilitary activity had to stop because only then could power-sharing be re-established. The most important signal from today was the two Prime Ministers’ determination to keep pushing for a resolution. We were in the middle of a review period. However, they were determined to ensure that a vacuum did not develop because of the obvious dangers that would entail. Questioned as to whether we were looking for movement from the IRA, the PMOS said that we were looking to address all the outstanding issues. By the end of the day, we hoped to have a clearer understanding of how we could take things forward than at the beginning.
Winter Pressures
The PMOS drew journalists’ attention to a report today from Sir George Alberti, who was in charge of the Government’s emergency care strategy. Sir George had presented an assessment of the NHS’s performance during the winter months to the Health Secretary, John Reid. The report showed that this winter had been "a success story for the NHS". In acknowledging that, we wished to pay tribute to the outstanding work of NHS staff in making that happen. John Reid had also pointed out today that the fact that a record number of pensioners had had the flu jabs was also a major contributing factor.
Key Worker Housing Programme
The PMOS advised journalists that the Deputy Prime Minister, Charles Clarke and John Reid had launched the key worker housing programme today. The £690m funding for this scheme had been announced last year. Today’s announcement was outlining details of how the scheme would work. This was an important part of our public service agenda aimed at retaining people and skills in frontline public services. Housing was obviously an important issue, particularly in areas where recruitment was difficult and housing costs were high.
European Constitution
Asked if the Prime Minister was confident of a breakthrough on the European Constitution at the European Council in Brussels later this week, the PMOS said that the position had not changed from yesterday and last week. The stumbling block at last December’s European Council had been the issue of vote-weighting. The countries central to that had been France, Germany, Spain and Poland. The UK had not been one of them. The Irish Presidency had been having talks with its European partners, including lunch yesterday with President Chirac, to discuss how progress could be made. The Presidency was expected to present a report to the Council at the end of this week in terms of whether they considered it was worth pursuing a conclusion to the IGC during the first half of this year. We had always said that we were very relaxed about this issue. The British Government’s position on the Constitution was well known. As the Prime Minister had said last December regarding our red lines, the centre of gravity had been with us in relation to the views of other countries at that Summit. Equally, as he had acknowledged at the time, nothing was agreed until everything was agreed - as, indeed, events in Brussels last December had shown.
Asked if the Prime Minister hoped that a deal on the Constitution might be brokered by June, the PMOS repeated that the British Government was relaxed about the issue. Wishing for one thing was neither here nor there if the political reality in Europe meant that a deal was not possible. People would have to exercise a little patience and see how things panned out. The issue of vote-weighting was extremely complex. Moreover, there had been a change of Government in Spain. We would have to see if, and how, that might impact on the situation. We would continue to approach these discussions constructively. As we had stated consistently, we believed there was merit in setting out where the competences rested for the EU as a whole and for its member states. Equally, it was important for changes to be made so that Europe could function more effectively at twenty five.
Asked how committed the Prime Minister was to the whole idea of a European Constitution, the PMOS said that our position was set out in the White Paper. We were for enlargement. However, it was clearly important for the EU to function effectively at twenty five. Changes to its mechanisms were therefore necessary to prevent deadlock.
Portugal
Questioned as to why the Prime Minister was visiting Lisbon tomorrow, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister would be attending the memorial service for the victims of the Madrid bombings in Spain tomorrow and would therefore be in the region. Portugal was an important European ally. He hadn’t had a one-to-one meeting with Prime Minister Barroso for several months, and it was thought to be mutually beneficial for both sides to meet in advance of the Brussels Summit.
Beach Volleyball
Asked for how long the Prime Minister had been interested in beach volleyball in the light of the item in today’s Telegraph Diary, the PMOS said that he had not turned his attention to newspaper diary gossip during the course of this morning.
Appointments
Asked if the Prime Minister had decided who would be our next European Commissioner, the PMOS said that we were not at the point of decision yet, let alone the point of announcement.
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