Press briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: EU Referendum, Police Inquiry, FOI Act, Postal Voting
EU Referendum
Asked if some were right in thinking that the Prime Minister had not said anything new about the EU referendum overnight, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said that she was somewhat surprised at the level of interest this morning, as it was similar to what was said on Monday and Tuesday. The Prime Minister had put forward the view that he had set out with the Dutch Prime Minister that the treaty we would be proposing would be a different kind of treaty, in that it was an amending, rather than a constitutional treaty.
Asked if we were confirming that we were not going to have a referendum, the PMS said that we had been asked that very same question earlier in the week. Historically, as with other amending treaties, a referendum had not been required, but all of these details were for discussion between now and at the June Council.
Asked if we were confident that this new treaty would not be of a type that would require a referendum, the PMS replied that she was not going to pre-empt what a treaty would look like after the June Council, but what was being proposed by the UK did not.
Asked how important a priority was it for us to have a slimmed down treaty and a new arrangement, the PMS replied that it was something that was on the agenda for June, and it would be discussed then. We were putting forward a proposal for what we believed would be the best way forward for that.
Asked again, the PMS said that she was not going to get into ranking issues.
Asked if the Chancellor had been involved in any of the discussions, the PMS said that she did not brief on the discussions between the Prime Minister and the Chancellor but pointed to the Prime Minister’s comments as reported today.
Put that the Prime Minister had seen two European Heads of Government this week, and there were more planned for the next few weeks, so was he pushing quite hard on the treaty, the PMS replied that it was the journalists’ job to characterise, not hers.
Put that it would be fair to say that the Prime Minister was meeting more EU Heads of Government in the run up to June, the PMS said that we would let the lobby know when the Prime Minister was meeting various Heads of Government from Europe.
Police Inquiry
No
Freedom of Information Act
Asked if the Government was concerned that if David McLean’s Bill went through, it might undermine the Freedom of Information legislation, the PMS replied that as the Leader of the House had made clear yesterday, this was a Parliamentary issue for Parliament to discuss, and we did not think it appropriate for the Government to stand in the way of such a debate. The PMS added that she was not going to get into a clearly hypothetical question.
Postal Voting
Put that some councils were concerned that the technology for checking the new postal votes was not going to work, and was there concern that there might be delays or disruptions at the elections, the PMS said that this was something that the relevant department would look into it.
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