Briefing from the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman on: EU Constitution, US Election, Children’s Bill and Compulsory Voting.
EU Constitution
Asked if today’s publication of a European Union Constitution booklet was the high point of the Prime Minister’s road show on Europe the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that it was an information booklet for the public intended to achieve a better understanding of the EU Constitution. In answer to the suggestion that this was hardly the big fanfare for the European Constitution the PMOS said that nobody had pretended that it ever was. The referendum was some way off and we would take it step by step but what the Prime Minister hoped was that gradually people’s understanding would increase, first and foremost as Parliament debated the Bill. Asked if the Prime Minister had any plans to make a speech on Europe the PMOS said that he was not aware of any at this stage. He reminded journalists that the Prime Minister had made the case for the Constitution at the time it was agreed, before the summer and that he would continue to make the case from time to time. It was important to remember that this was not a sprint. It was something that would take some time and the Prime Minister was prepared to make his views known over that time.
US Election
Asked if the Prime Minister was planning to stay up and watch television coverage of the US elections the PMOS advised that he would be best placed to brief on Wednesday morning as to what the Prime Minister had done.
Children’s Bill
Asked what position the Government would take on smacking in tomorrow’s vote on the Children’s Bill and whether it would be a free vote the PMOS said that the Government’s position all along had been that we believe that parents should be given the responsibility for looking after their children. The Government did not condone any abuse of children but equally we did believe that reasonable chastisement within limits was what parents should be allowed to do. The Prime Minister, as he said he would do after PMQS, was going to meet with a group of labour backbenchers this evening though this should not be taken as signalling a change in policy.
Asked if the Government was going to support the Lord Lester amendment that was passed in the Lords the PMOS said that the Government’s position had not changed. Asked to clarify if he had just said that the Prime Minister believed that parents should have the right to reasonable chastisement the PMOS said that the Government’s position was as it had always been that you should not ban parents from disciplining their children with reasonable chastisement, so long as that did not amount to abuse.
Compulsory Voting
Asked if the Prime Minister supported compulsory voting as voiced by Mr Kinnock yesterday the PMOS said that he was not aware of any change in our policy, but that Mr Kinnock was entitled to his views.
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