Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Foot and Mouth Disease, Prime Minister in Scotland, Climate Change, Stock Market, Climate Change Protestors and Afghanistan
Foot and Mouth Disease
The Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) updated journalists on Foot and Mouth. She said that the Prime Minister was being kept informed of any developments today whilst he was up in Scotland. Officials were currently attending a COBR meeting, and there had been no confirmed cases since early last week. The Chief Vet Debby Reynolds had stressed again over the weekend the need for relentless vigilance, and had expressed her gratitude for those in farming communities. In terms of Professor Spratt’s review on biosecurity, we believed that this would report towards the end of this week, but that exact timings were a matter for Professor Spratt. The same applied to the timings on the further HSE work.
Put to the PMS that the National Farmers Union (NFU) had said they were very optimistic yesterday, and given that the Prime Minister was now in Scotland, was he happy about the current situation, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was being kept informed of any developments. Although there had been no confirmed cases for a few days, we obviously had to be very mindful that this was a highly virulent disease, and that preventing its spread was our absolute priority. As Debby Reynolds had said, whilst there had been no cases recently, it was relentless vigilance that was required.
Prime Minister in Scotland
Asked if the Prime Minister was in his constituency whilst in Scotland, the PMS confirmed that he was working from his constituency office.
Asked if the Prime Minister was now on holiday, the PMS replied that it was the first time that the Prime Minister had visited his constituency since he became Prime Minister. There was therefore a lot of business to do, and traditionally, the Prime Minister had often used his constituency office as an alternative location from where to do Government business from.
Asked if the Prime Minister would have a meeting with Alex Salmond whilst he was in Scotland, the PMS said that she was not aware of any such plans, but added that the he had attended a Raith Rovers football match at the weekend.
Asked if the Prime Minister would be resuming his holiday, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister was up in Scotland for a few days, but that would be dependent on issues on the ground.
Asked had the Prime Minister arrived in Scotland and when was the last time that he was there, the PMS said that he had arrived on Friday, and this was the first visit to his constituency since he had become Prime Minister.
Asked if the Prime Minister was intending to have another holiday, the PMS replied that as people knew, he had had a family holiday in Dorset planned, but it was disrupted.
Asked again if the Prime Minister was intending to take another holiday, the PMS replied that at the moment the Prime Minister was working up in Scotland.
Asked if the Prime Minister thought that it was important for people to take holidays with their families, and did he feel that he should lead by example, the PMS replied that he did think that it was important. He had had a holiday planned, but it was disrupted, and he felt that the most important thing for him was to come back and oversee the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
Put by a journalist that Scotland was not a holiday, and it was not going to become a holiday, the (Scottish) Lobby Chair interrupted him and said that when people went to Scotland, it was always a holiday!
Climate Change
Asked about the Guardian story today regarding officials briefing the Government over climate change targets being "completely unreachable", the PMS replied that the UK was committed to developing renewable energy. In the recent energy White Paper that was published, we had aimed to see renewable energy increase three-fold to 15% by 2015.
Asked if we would meet targets set, the PMS said that it was no secret that these were ambitious targets, and it would be a major challenge. However, that was not only for the UK, but was for all EU member states, and people should remember that the UK was one of the few EU states that was on course the meet our Kyoto targets of cutting carbon emissions. It was now for the Commission to propose how the EU-wide target be met by all member states.
Stock Market
Asked if the Prime Minister was involved in any talks about the financial markets, and was there a strategy, the PMS replied that John Hutton had responded to this yesterday. As the Prime Minster had said last week, we would not hesitate to act to ensure that the British economy remained stable, and that our prospects for continued growth were good. The view of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that was expressed on Saturday was that the fundamentals of both the world economy and the British economy were sound.
Asked what actions the Government would take, the PMS replied that any actions would be dependent on the situation. At the moment, the IMF were saying that the British and international economies were sound.
Asked if the Prime Minister would like the Bank of England to follow the Federal Reserve and the Central European Bank in terms of bailing out financial institutions, the PMS replied that the Bank of England’s independence was something that was introduced by this Government, but she was not going to comment any further on its role.
Climate Change Protestors
Asked what the Prime Minister’s view was towards the climate change protestors at Heathrow, the PMS said that it was a matter for the authorities and those who ran Heathrow with regards to disruptions. People did have the right to protest, but the Government felt that any action that disrupted the operation of Heathrow would be unacceptable.
Afghanistan
Put that as Des Browne was now back from Afghanistan and back at the MOD, was there any Government concern at the rising toll in Afghanistan, the PMS replied that as Des Browne had said in his interview, the fatalities were a matter of deep regret.
Put that when the Defence Secretary had said that the commitment in Afghanistan was for the long term, was there any idea of how long that might be, the PMS replied that as Des Browne had said, there were 42 other countries who were represented there in Afghanistan, 37 being military efforts. The operations would be guided by both the Commanders on the ground, as well as the political security situation.
Put that as we had taken over the control of Helmand from another nation, was there any sign that another nation might be willing to take over from us, the PMS replied that she was not going to get into speculation about the operations on the ground.
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