Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Spokesman on: Casinos, drug strategy, Lichtenstein, abortion, death penalty, speaker of the House of Commons, trade unions meeting, low pay and Swedish Prime Minister
Casions
Asked if there would be anything on casinos this week, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) said we should wait and see.
Drug Strategy
Asked if the drug strategy was regarding what was being done about cannabis, the PMS replied that the drug strategy was more about what the Government was doing in order to tackle the effects of drug use. Regarding cannabis reclassification, we were awaiting the conclusions from the Advisory Committee.
Lichtenstein
Asked if the Government had made any representations to Lichtenstein, the PMS replied that the Treasury and HMRC had put out a statement following reports over the weekend and there was nothing to add to that.
Asked if investigations would be carried out in other tax havens, the PMS replied that we were always keen to take whatever action was necessary to deal with tax evasion but it was best to speak to the Treasury on this.
Abortion
Asked if the Prime Minister thought that the time limit for abortion should be lowered and if it would be a voting issue, the PMS said that when the Prime Minister had been asked about this in the past, he had always made clear that we should be guided by the best medical advice. At the moment the key organisations in the medical profession were not pressing for a review of this area. For example, both the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists had said that they did not believe that there was a case for changing the time limits for an abortion. Therefore, the Government had no plans to change the law on abortion. Regarding a free vote, it was accepted Parliamentary practice that proposals for changes in the law on abortion were made on the basis of free votes. The Embryology Bill was going through Parliament at the moment, but to date no amendments had yet been tabled.
Death Penalty
Asked for the Prime Minister’s view on the death penalty, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister’s view on the death penalty, like the majority of MPs, was that he was not a supporter of the restoration of the death penalty. In recent decades restoration of the death penalty had been consistently voted down, with big majorities, in Parliament. We had introduced whole life sentences, as handed down last week to Steve Wright, and the Government believed that these remained the ultimate sanctions available for those who committed the most serious offences.
Speaker of the House of Commons
Asked if the Prime Minister shared the concerns of his Parliamentary colleagues regarding the witch-hunt against the Speaker, the PMS replied that he would not get into that subject. However, the Prime Minister had said a few words about the Speaker during his visit this morning. The gist of what was said was that the Prime Minister thought Michael Martin was a good Speaker but that these were all matters for the House Authorities.
Trade Unions Meeting
Asked what happened at the Prime Minister’s meeting with trade unions this morning, the PMS replied that this meeting was intended to be private, but since it was now clearly in the public domain, we would comment on it. The Prime Minister met union representatives for about 45 minutes to discuss the issues around agency workers. It was a constructive meeting. As we had said last Friday, we did recognise the concerns that had been raised. We were talking to employers’ organisations about this as well and we continued to believe that a commission, which reflected views on all sides with an independent chair, would be the most useful way forward.
Asked if anything had been agreed yet, the PMS replied that it was a constructive meeting; as and when we had any specific announcements to make, we would make them.
Asked what the point of the commission was, the PMS replied that he did not want to get into the details of what was a private meeting. However, the Government recognised that there was an issue and that was why we believed that a commission was the right way forward in order to look at what could be done.
Asked if it was the Government’s view that a change in law would be unnecessary, the PMS said that we did not think that a Private Members Bill was necessarily the right way forward on this and that was why we were proposing a commission to get both the unions and employers involved. On Friday, employers were saying that they were happy to participate in such a commission; the purpose of this commission would be to identify what action could be taken going forward.
Asked if there was a time frame regarding this commission, the PMS repeated that he did not want to get into specifics; as and when we were in a position to make announcements regarding the commission, including its terms of reference and so on, we would make them.
Put that the unions wanted terms of reference from the Government that clearly committed to doing something and asked if that was something the Government would accept, the PMS replied that we did accept that there was an issue here that needed to be looked at and addressed; as and when we would be in a position to publish the terms of reference for this commission, we would do so.
Asked it would simply be a discussion of different points of view, the PMS replied that the CBI on Friday, were saying that they were prepared to participate in such a commission. There was a general acceptance of the need to take some action in this area and it was something that we would like to see accepted both by the unions and by employers, in terms of the actual action we would end up taking.
Low Pay
Asked if the Prime Minister was sympathetic to the case for raising low pay, the PMS replied that we had policy mechanisms in place in order to deal with the issue of low pay and to encourage more people into work. We introduced the minimum wage and tax credits, and of course we continued to keep both the level of the minimum wage and the level support of tax credits reviewed regularly.
Put that people were complaining that the super rich on city bonuses were escaping the tax regime, the PMS replied that we had introduced proposals in relation to non-doms, for example, which would give non-doms the incentive to come into the UK tax system or pay a charge once they had been here for more than seven years.
Swedish Prime Minister
Asked what the Prime Minister would be discussing with the Swedish Prime Minister, the PMS said that it would be a usual run round of live European issues.
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