Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Human rights, Vote, Maysan Province, Immigration, Cricket, Prime Minister, Hungarian Prime Minister
Human Rights
Put that Tony McNulty had said this morning that the two terror suspects who had escaped last year from their control orders were still on the run, and that he had no information about the well being of those who were sent back to Algeria under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) basis, and was the Prime Minister worried about it all, as the Government had promised to keep tabs on individuals who were returned under the MOU, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said that with regards to the first part of the question, as we had said a the time, it was a matter for the police and the authorities who were looking for the two people. With regards to the second part, we had reached an agreement with Algeria, and our clear understanding was that Algeria would meet and observe those agreements. The PMOS added that journalists should check with the FCO for the precise details of the agreement.
Vote
Asked why the Prime Minister did not vote last night, the PMOS replied that as the result showed, there was never any doubt about the result, and it was not normal for the Prime Minister to vote on such occasions.
Maysan Province
Asked for further information about the handover of Maysan Province, the PMOS said that this was the third of the four provinces to be transferred to the Iraqis, across Iraq as a whole. The UK forces had been in a backup role since August.
Asked if that had implications for the UK troops, the PMOS said that it did not, because we had been in a backup role since August.
Asked if Maysan was one of the provinces that had been discussed when the Prime Minister was last in Iraq, the PMOS confirmed that it was, and this was the working out of a policy that was known in advance.
Immigration
Asked what the Prime Minister’s view on Liam Byrne’s view was about the damage that mass immigration had done to society, the PMOS replied that this had to be put in context. Migration had also been of huge benefit to the UK in terms of providing skilled labour and that had been backed up by employers organisations. If people looked at the job vacancies in the labour market, they remained very much part of the context of this.
What we also had to do was to recognise where there were pressures which were caused by migration in certain areas, and deal with those, and that was the balance that we had struck in terms of what we were doing. That was why on the one hand, we had published a points-based system to ensure that we got the right skills in terms of migrants, and on the other hand, we had set up the Migration Advisory Committee which would advise on that. The PMOS said that the flip side of the coin was that we had set up the Migration Impact Forum where we could look at the effect that migration had in certain areas, and then deal with that. The aim should not be to cut off the supply of skilled migrants who were of benefit to this economy, but rather, to make sure that any adverse impact it might have on local communities was dealt with.
Put that if the Immigration Minister was admitting that there had been an adverse effect, then surely, that was a mistake by the Government in terms of policy, the PMOS said that people had to recognise that there were side effects in terms of impacts in the community that had to be dealt with. People also had to recognise that if they simply took an anti-immigration stance, then that would actually harm the UK economy, and that was something that the Government clearly did not want to do.
Cricket
Asked if the Prime Minister was going to hold a party for the England cricket team when they arrived home from the Caribbean, the PMOS replied that he was not aware of any plans to do. He suspected that in Dublin, however, there would be some…!
Prime Minister
Put by a BBC journalist recently back in the UK, that as he had been out of the loop for a while, when did the Prime Minister intend to stand down, and who would replace him when he did, the PMOS said that the journalist got ten out of ten for aspiration, but zero out of ten for reality! Nothing had changed - welcome back to lobby!
Put by the Evening Standard that this was where the BBC journalist found out that the police had visited, the PMOS said that he thought the news hadn’t travelled as far as New York.
Asked if the police had been recently, the PMOS said no, but it was a nice double act by the Standard and the BBC.
Hungarian Prime Minister
Asked if it was true that the Hungarian Prime Minister had come to say goodbye, the PMOS said that he was not aware of that. There were real issues such as the EU Constitution to talk about, and if people remembered what the Prime Minister had said in his press conference this week about wanting to work towards an amending treaty, and not a constitutional treaty, then that was part of that context. This was a debate which was picking up right across Europe as we approached the June Council, and as we approached the point where there would a new President in France. Therefore, there was a renewed emphasis on this debate, and the Prime Minister and Prime Minister Balkenende tried to shape that debate during their press conference.
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