Press briefing from the Prime Ministers Official Spokesman on: Baghdad deaths, Pensions, Terrorism Bill, Kiev-Tallinn-Budapest and CAP-EU Budget
Baghdad deaths
Asked if the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) was able to confirm that 2 Britons had been killed by gunfire near Baghdad today, the PMOS said that as always, we had to be cautious, and deal with the facts as we knew them at this stage. The PMOS said the most up to date information he had was that one British national was in hospital, and further investigations were going on.
Pensions
Asked if there was any prospect of re-opening a deal on public sector pensions, the PMOS replied that people should be clear about the parameters of this discussion. Two different things should be differentiated: one was the state pension, and the other was the occupational pension. In the private sector, 40% of occupational pensions were for people who retired at 60. If the pattern of new agreements in the private sector was looked at, many of them had a situation where existing employees would still retire at 60, whilst new entrants would retire at 65. That was precisely what was proposed in the new deals which was agreed a month ago.
The impact of that new deal, given that 10% of public sector workers change jobs every year, would be that in ten years time, 70% of those working in the public sector would be under the new scheme, rather than the old one, i.e. working until they were 65, not 60. The PMOS reiterated that we reached an agreement a month ago, and the Government’s view was that it was better to stick to agreements that were reached, rather than tearing them up within a month of agreement.
Asked when the Turner report came out, did we anticipate a statement to Parliament, and if so, by whom, the PMOS replied that there would be a statement made by John Hutton. As John Hutton and others had said, the publication of the Turner report was the start, and not the end, of a proper rational debate of pensions and how we moved forward on pensions.
The Chancellor’s speech to the CBI would be calling for a national consensus on pensions, and it was important that we did everything we could to have that debate. That would mean explicitly examining the options that were set out in the Tuner report. However, as the Prime Minister had said in his recent interview, we anticipated that we would welcome the Turner report, but of course, we would have to seek a consensus on what our proposals were in the spring.
Put that if a deal was a bad deal, regardless of it being a month old, was it not better, therefore, to revoke it sooner rather than later, the PMOS said that people should look at both the experience in the private sector, and also the further deals that had been done in the private sector. The public sector deal mirrored that. Equally, people should take seriously the fact that there would be 10% turnover a year of public sector staff, and that within a decade, 70% of those in the public sector would be working for the new deal.
Asked if it was the Government’s position that there was a pensions crisis, the PMOS replied that there was a real issue because of the changes in demographics, and the dramatic switch in terms of the ratio between those in work and those who had reached a pensionable age. Therefore there was a real issue to be addressed. That was why we had set up Lord Turner’s report, why we believed that Lord Turner’s report was serious, and why we believed there should be a serious debate on that report.
Terrorism Bill
Asked if we held out any hope on reaching an agreement on the draft legislation defining terrorism, the PMOS said: yes. We believed that there was a consensus that everyone condemned terrorism, and that everyone wanted to do more to tackle terrorism and its causes, and to take action against extremism and incitement towards dialogues and moderation. We would find out by the end of the day whether we had reached agreement, but we believed that there was still a prospect of doing so.
Kiev-Tallinn-Budapest
Asked for any guidance on the Prime Minister’s trip later on in the week, and what was the Prime Minister hoping to get out of it, the PMOS said that we were at a significant point of the budget negotiations. It was important that the countries in Eastern Europe and central Europe understood where we were coming from. Every leader that we had met, which included the Maltese Prime Minister and others, had all said that the key point for the new accession countries was stability, and knowing what their budget was going to be, and being able to plan accordingly.
As the Prime Minister had said, that was one of his main driving forces in trying to go for a deal, because everyone knew the difficulties, but equally, we had to appreciate the difficulties that the lack of a deal were causing the accession countries in particular. Therefore, it was important that they knew where they were coming from, and that we knew what their approach was. That was the basic outline of the deal.
CAP-EU Budget
Asked whether the PMOS could say whether today’s FT story regarding demanding budget cuts all round was "completely wrong", the PMOS replied that he did not want to give a running commentary. However, firstly, it was no secret in June that we believed the budget proposed by Luxembourg was too big. That remained our view, and therefore, that was one of the ways in which we were approaching this negotiation.
Secondly, as the Prime Minister had repeatedly said, the true nature of the accession countries would be one of things uppermost in his mind. The fact that we were going on the trip to the Ukraine, Estonia and Hungary showed that the Prime Minister still believed that this was definitely the case. In terms of how we approached it, one of the factors that was in the Prime Minister’s mind was that the accession countries wanted this deal perhaps more than anybody, because they wanted budget certainty. The PMOS said we dealt with the reality of the budget.
The PMOS also told journalists that the Prime Minister met the Taoiseach to discuss both European matters and Northern Irish matters, President Barroso, and the Lebanese Prime Minister as well.
Asked if the reality of the British proposal was that the small accession countries would "take the pain of the cut", as opposed to the French or anyone else, the PMOS said that if we got a deal, then the people who would benefit most from that deal were the accession countries. This offered them certainty and the ability to get their money. The PMOS said again he was not going to give a running commentary.
Asked if the Prime Minister had any plans to meet either President Chirac of Chancellor Merkel, the PMOS replied that as people knew, the Prime Minister met Chancellor Merkel last week in London. Regarding meeting President Chirac, the PMOS said it depended on timings out in Barcelona and the dynamics of the room. As the PMOS said, we would be talking later in the week about how we talked to other people before the Summit meeting. Everyone would be fully informed about our thinking on the budget.
Put to the PMOS that in June, the accession countries put forward a proposal late on that was rejected, therefore, if the Prime Minister was keen that the accession countries were helped out with a deal, why was it not done in June, the PMOS said the deal was based on proposals on the size of budget and the impact on our rebate which was unacceptable to the UK. That was not because of the accession countries, and that remained the position.
Asked if we were prepared to renew our promise that we would not surrender a "penny" of the rebate unless France makes big concessions on CAP, the PMOS said the position that we outlined in June had not changed at all, and the PMOS was not going to give a running commentary on it. If people looked at the Prime Minister’s speeches that he gave in June, or to the Mansion House, then people would see that his approach had not changed.
Asked if it was possible that there could be a deal which did not involve reform of the CAP, the PMOS replied that as he said earlier, our position on the CAP had not, and would not change. As for the various parts of the deal, people should wait and see.
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