Briefing from the Prime Minister’s spokesman on: Cabinet, G20 meeting, Pre-budget Report, jobs, US and misc
Cabinet
The Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) began by giving a read out from this morning’s Cabinet meeting. The sole focus of the discussion was on the Pre-Budget Report (PBR), and the Chancellor set out the main measures in the PBR, making clear that the objective of the PBR was to support firms and businesses now in difficult times when people needed help the most, whilst ensuring that we remained on course for economic stability and sustainable public finances in the medium term. He emphasised as the Prime Minister did in his CBI speech, the importance of acting now in order to prevent lasting damage to the economy, and he noted that there was widespread support for this type of fiscal stimulus to the economy around the world.
Asked if the Prime Minister gave any words on the PBR to Cabinet, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister agreed with and reiterated the points that were made by the Chancellor.
Asked if the Yorkshire Cabinet would take the same format to the recent Birmingham Cabinet, the PMS replied that it would be a similar format, and we would keep people updated on an operational basis during the course of the week.
Asked if this meant no Cabinet on Tuesday, the PMS replied that this was correct.
G20 meeting
Asked if there was any indication at this point on a location or date for the next G20 meeting, the PMS replied that we were not in a position to confirm anything at this point, but we hoped to be able to confirm shortly.
Pre-budget Report
Asked if he had any thoughts on how much of the PBR was already in the public domain, the PMS replied that at the moment it was all speculation until it was announced.
Asked if there would there be questions asked if it turned out to be accurate speculation, the PMS replied that this again was a hypothetical question.
Put that a lot of heads of business had been saying that they would not be happy to change their prices due to changes in VAT, the PMS replied that this was a not very well disguised PBR question, and we would have to wait and see what was in the PBR.
Jobs
Asked about the Financial Times story on jobs, the PMS replied that we had seen the report in the FT, and obviously the Treasury were a bit pre-occupied with other matters and had not been able to do any detailed analysis on some of the accusations that were made, but their initial reaction was that they did not recognise these figures.
US
Asked if the Prime Minister met with Timothy Geithner when he was in the US recently, and did the Prime Minister think he was a good pick if he was announced today as the next Treasury Chief in the US, the PMS replied that people should wait for an official announce from the Untied States and the President-elect Obama’s administration. The Prime Minister had met Timothy Geithner previously, and he was somebody the Prime Minister had a great deal of respect for.
Misc
Asked if it was correct that the Prime Minister had been receiving coaching from Lord Mandelson to prepare him for PMQs, the PMS replied that he had not heard or witnessed that.
Asked if there was any comment on suggestions that Jaguar and the Government were in talks over a bailout, the PMS replied that he had no specific comment on that and referred people to the Department for Business.
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