Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: Smoking, Rail Security, Budget Deficit and the Duchy of Lancaster
Smoking
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) informed journalists that, having listened to the range of opinion on the issue, health ministers intended to hold discussions with MPs seeking to amend the bill to remove the exemption of pubs which don’t serve food from the proposed ban. Following these discussions it was the Government’s intention to allow its MPs, including ministers, a free vote on the amendment. Asked if the free vote was inconsistent with the Government’s manifesto commitments, the PMOS said that the manifesto commitment was to ban smoking in 95 per cent of public areas.
Asked why there had been a change of heart, the PMOS said that we recognised that the public debate had moved on. The debate within the entertainment industry had moved on and people had expressed concerns about the practicality of separating food and non-food areas, particularly if there might be a review after three years. It was sensible to listen to those types of concerns. As the Prime Minister had said at his press conference before Christmas, this was a one-off issue and people did have particular views on it. So the sensible thing to do was to allow people to have a free vote on the issue. Asked how the Prime Minister would vote, the PMOS said that as with previous issues which had had a free vote, the Prime Minister would not signal his position in advance because he believed it was important that people were not overly-influenced by his position.
Asked why the Government was not simply backing a total ban on smoking in public areas, the PMOS said that this was an issue on which, as the Prime Minister had always said, there was a difficult balance to be struck. There was the balance between the rights of non-smokers and the rights of smokers. There were also practical issues. People had different views about how to strike that balance. MPs have different views and ministers had different views. Therefore it was right and proper to listen to the debate and recognise that the public view on this appears to have shifted. Equally it was important to allow MPs to reflect their own views as well.
Asked if it was fair to say that the Government recognised that if it pushed for the original legislation it would be defeated, the PMOS said that what it was fair to say was that we recognised the concerns of the industry and the change in the public mood on this issue. Asked how he characterised the public mood, the PMOS said that looking back at what the Prime Minister had said on this issue in the House of Commons, he had recognised that the momentum of the public mood was going towards a complete ban. He had recognised that in his public comments. That was partly what had shaped the Government’s decision to hold a free vote, but it would be for MPs to decide.
Rail security
Asked what the point of the trial of airport-style scanners on the Heathrow express platform at Paddington was, the PMOS said that this was a pilot scheme to test methods of improving security at railway stations. In this instance the main purpose was to test the application of security equipment in a busy, modern railway station. Asked if everyone travelling to Heathrow would be scanned, the PMOS said no. People would be searched at random. The aim was to test the equipment to see how you could balance the need to insure this capability without impeding travel. This had been announced in early December last year.
Asked if this was inspired by the events of 7/7 the PMOS said that of course 7/7 had changed the picture in terms of security, but the PMOS stressed this was mainly about testing the equipment and not a response to a specific security threat. Put to him that the random searches might be open to accusations of racial profiling, the PMOS said that anyone who regularly went through Belfast airport, for instance, would have had experience of random searches, this was not a new security approach. Put to him that even if this test went fantastically well the Government couldn’t seriously be considering having airport-style searches at all stations, the PMOS said that the Government recognised, and the public also recognised, that a railway system of one billion passengers a year, 11,000 miles of track, over 2,500 stations and three million passengers per day on the Underground placed limitations on security.
But equally we still had to do everything possible to insure that people knew that security operations were taking place. This was all about testing the equipment, seeing how it worked and taking it from there. Asked if the PMOS had not answered his own question by demonstrating how unfeasible such a system would be, the PMOS said that it was a way of enhancing security and if people believed that there was a possibility that they might be searched that was in itself a help to security.
Budget deficit
Asked if the Government shared the EU’s concerns over the UK’s budget deficit, the PMOS said that the Treasury would be dealing with this issue. However he would simply point out that our deficit had nearly halved over the last year and was projected to halve again over next year. The UK continued to have the lowest average deficit of any other major European economy since 1997. The Treasury would emphasize that we continued to meet our fiscal rules for the economic cycle.
Duchy of Lancaster
Put to him by the Evening Standard that there had been a lot of concern about the Government not having a Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the PMOS said that he was indebted to the Evening Standard for selflessly reflecting the concern of others and he was sure it had been the cause of many sleepless nights. He would pass on those concerns to the person concerned.
delicious
digg
facebook
