Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: EU Accession Immigration, Council Tax, Gershon Review, Trilateral Summit/EU, Chief Secretary of the Treasury and Public Inquiries.
EU Accession Immigration
Asked if the Prime Minister would be meeting other members of the Cabinet to discuss the terms of immigration from EU Accession countries the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that since it was a cross-departmental issue journalists shouldn’t be surprised that there were various meetings going on. However he was not going to highlight any particular one of them and it was wrong to do so. This was an issue on which the Government’s position was very clear. As of May 1st people from Accession countries will have a right to travel throughout the EU and that applied not just to this country but also to other countries such as Germany, Italy and France. The question therefore was whether you allowed people to seek work in a country such as the UK which has virtually full employment and where, as the CBI had highlighted, there were skill shortages, while at the same time safeguarding the UK against benefit shopping and against changing circumstances. That was the balance that we had to strike, that was what Ministers were discussing and that was what we would address when we make our announcement at the appropriate time.
Asked if the Government was considering an increase in managed migration, the PMOS said that the Government was in favour of managed migration and always had been. The need for it was highlighted by the skills shortages identified by the CBI and was, as he had said at an earlier briefing not just a problem in the South-East but in Scotland as well. There was an issue about how you made sure that there was the right supply of skills that the economy needed. That was an issue in its own right as was safeguarding the position in terms of benefits and also making sure that if circumstances were to change we could deal with any problems that arose. Asked if that was retreating from the Government’s original position concerning the ‘right to work’, the PMOS said no. The right to work was one that we recognised and we believed was right. In terms of detail journalist would have to wait until an announcement was made.
Council Tax
Asked to clarify the Government’s position on Council tax reform, the PMOS reminded journalists that the Prime Minister had addressed this at the liaison committee. The Prime Minister had said that everyone should admit that there was no perfect solution to the council tax issue, it was a difficult issue and one that we had to think through. There was however a review going on and will continue until the summer. Various options were being considered but he was not going to list them or speculate as to which one would eventually be favoured because it was better to wait for the outcome of that review. Asked to say whether there would be anything concrete before the summer, the PMOS said not that he was aware of. Asked if the Prime Minister had gone on record as saying that he did not believe in income tax for councils, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had said in the Commons that he did not believe that replacing Council Tax with Local Income tax was a viable option.
Gershon Review
Asked about the Gershon review in the light of the story in the Financial Times this morning, the PMOS said that it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that the Government were carrying out an efficiency review. Equally it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we were trying to identify the resources that could be saved. However there was a process underway and it was premature to give a running commentary on that process until all the options were considered and a final report was prepared. Asked if the quotes in the Financial Times were from the report, the PMOS said he never commented on leaked documents.
Trilateral Summit/EU
Asked if the summit was an admission that 25 EU countries was unworkable without a leading group of 3, the PMOS said that it was not a matter of either/or. It was not a case of either trying to identify issues to could discuss as 3, or working as 25. It was a question of shaping our approach so that where there were issues that could be thought through and beginnings of solution identified by the 3, that could happen. Equally however that took place in the knowledge that we had to work with other allies such as Spain, Italy and Poland as well as the smaller countries.
The Prime Minister had kept in regular contact with Spain and Italy as well as the small countries. Hence the meeting on Friday with Prime Minister Persson of Sweden and his regular contact with Bertie Ahern. This was nothing new, as the Foreign Secretary had said this morning that France Germany and Poland held a meeting last week which nobody commented on apart from the three countries concerned. There would be different formulations at different times. What was also important to recognise was what this summit was about. It was primarily about Economic reform. Last year before the Spring EU summit, the three countries produced a report for the EU, so it was hardly surprising that before this year’s summit, equally they wanted to address the issues such as quality of regulation, strengthening the single market, improving the functioning of labour markets, promoting enterprise centres and using the WTO round to opening the EU to world markets, CAP reform. Those were the hard, basic issues which were at the core of this meeting. Asked why in that case the Chancellor wouldn’t be there, the PMOS said that Dawn Primarolo would be there in the Chancellors place. Equally the German Treasury Minister would not be there either. However the range of people who would be there in terms of Patricia Hewitt, Andrew Smith, Dawn Primarolo and John Reid, they all had experience of labour market areas and that was part of their responsibility.
Asked if the Prime Minister would like to see the EU constitution ratified by the end of the year, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister believed that it was important that we continued to make progress. How that was done and the pace at which that was done was determined by our partners in Europe, working under the Irish Presidency. The Prime Minister would like to see that done as soon as possible but it was not in his gift any more than it was the leader of any other country’s gift to individually, unilaterally decide when that progress was or was not made. Let us let the Irish presidency get on with the job of trying to find agreement.
Asked if the Prime Minister would support the idea of a new European Commissioner designated to follow the Economic agenda illustrated earlier, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister had always placed a lot of importance on the issue of economic reform. The precise institutional way in which that was reflected was a matter for discussion with our partners.
Chief Secretary of the Treasury
Asked what the Chief Secretary of the Treasury actually did, the PMOS said that the Chief Secretary of the Treasury performed the traditional role of Chief Secretary of the Treasury and although that may not be visible to journalists a lot of work took place behind the scenes.
Public Inquiries
Asked if the Government was concerned about the lack of enthusiasm for public inquiries, specifically the Cory Inquiry, given the cost of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the PMOS said that there were assumptions built into that question which he was not going to follow down. The simple fact was that there were genuine legal difficulties which arose out of the Cory report which we had to address before we could publish and before we could announce what we were going to do. It was better to let that process unfold.
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