Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: economy, prostitution and miscellaneous.
Economy
Asked for a flavour of the Prime Minister’s speech this evening, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) replied that the speech would begin with an assessment of the global economic situation and would say how global economic turmoil was affecting every economy in every country; that the UK economy was better placed than it had been in the past through a number of measures that has been put in place; and that we would continue to back up that resilience with interventions which would help British people through. There was also a major component on energy that would include the need to improve energy efficiency, and the need to diversify our sources of energy.
Asked if there was any further progress on the talks with the energy companies, the PMS replied that as we said yesterday we were engaged cooperatively in constructive talks with the energy companies and when we had finalised a package we would make an announcement.
Asked if tonight’s speech would touch on this point, the PMS replied that the speech may touch on aspects of it including the need for greater energy efficiency.
Asked if there would be any policy announcements in the speech tonight, the PMS replied that there were aspects which would discuss our approach to the energy package, including some of the measures that we felt would be important.
Asked if the Prime Minister thought that a better way to tackle fuel poverty was to give people money to invest in energy efficiency measures rather than one off payments, the PMS replied that there was two aspects to this – firstly there was a long term issue to do with fuel efficiency which would deliver savings for people over the long term, and there were also important short term considerations for people who were faced with higher energy bills in the next few months. The energy package next week would address both short term and long term.
Asked if the Government was looking at the idea of auctioning off more carbon trading permits, the PMS replied that there would be further details on the energy package when it was announced next week.
Asked for any comment on the record fall in house prices, the PMS replied that he would not be commenting on the housing market.
Prostitution
Asked if the Prime Minister backed Harriet Harman in her crusade to make paying for sex illegal, the PMS replied that Harriet Harman was a Government Minister and as such had the Prime Minister’s backing.
Asked to clarify if the Prime Minister was backing Harriet Harman in her job as Minister responsible for such matters or the view that prostitution should be legalised, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister had full support for Harriet Harman.
Asked if the Prime Minister thought that there should be a law banning the purchase of sex, the PMS referred journalists to the relevant department on that question.
Asked if the Prime Minister thought it was socially and morally acceptable to buy sex, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister did not think this.
Miscellaneous
Asked if the Prime Minister accepted that he had “months” to turn around his premiership, the PMS replied that he was not going to be drawn on any of the comments from Charles Clarke this morning, and referred journalists to his political colleague.
Asked for a view on a story concerning publication of changes to the Iraq dossier, the PMS replied that on that specific case journalists should contact the Cabinet Office.
delicious
digg
facebook
