Briefing from the Prime Minister's Spokesman

Briefing from the Prime Minister's Spokesman on: Cabinet, Constitution/Statements and Terror Incidents

Cabinet

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) informed the assembled press that Cabinet met at 0900 this morning for about an hour and three quarters. This was the first regular meeting of Cabinet on a Tuesday, which was now the normal day on which Cabinet would meet. The PMS told people that the Cabinet had met on a Thursday since 1963, and between 1955 and 1963, it met on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In the years between 1945 and 1955, Cabinet met on Mondays and Thursdays, and prior to World War II, it usually met on Wednesdays. There was nothing especially sacrosanct about Thursdays, as it had met on different days over the years, and as the PMS had explained yesterday, the reason for moving to Tuesday was to ensure that those people who had Parliamentary business did not have to leave Cabinet earlier if Cabinet went on for some length of time.

The discussion in Cabinet today consisted firstly of an update from the Home Secretary on the latest situation regarding the terror incidents over the weekend. The Prime Minister took the opportunity on behalf of the Cabinet to praise the work of the emergency services, the police and the Security Services, both in terms of the way they had reacted to the weekend's events, and also the speed with which the police investigation was now clearly progressing. The Leader of the House introduced a full Cabinet discussion on the draft legislative programme and the priorities for the legislative programme over the next year. The Housing Minister led a debate on housing policy and how the Government could best respond to the challenges faced by first time buyers. It was a very wide ranging debate, as housing policy was an issue that covered many departments, so there were issues relating to the environment, business, transport, and financial issues for the Treasury. There were also issues about what it meant for communities and the skills for people working in that sector. That is why it had been looked at from a cross-Governmental perspective.

The PMS went on to say that there was a report from the Secretary of State for Health who informed Cabinet of the nature of his statement to the House tomorrow. John Denham gave a report on the work of his department, and he would be making a statement to the House on Thursday on that. This was the third detailed debate on the constitutional reform package that was led by the Prime Minister.

Asked if there was any further information on the Prime Minister and Jack Straw's salaries, or grace and favour homes, the PMS said that we were not at that point yet. The Prime Minister's mind had been on other issues recently.

Asked if there had been any suggestion of specific laws being discussed, the PMS replied that the position on terrorist laws remained as it had been, which was we had said that we would review terror laws. We were committed to a counter-terrorism Bill over the next year, but as we had been emphasising throughout, this was not an issue that we wanted to rush into.

Asked if papers were circulated prior to the housing discussion in Cabinet, the PMS said that there were papers circulated on the constitutional matters. There was also a paper put out at Cabinet in the form of a presentation from the Housing Minister.

Constitution/Statements

Asked what tomorrow's health statement would cover, the PMS said that it would be a wide-ranging statement, and it was therefore better to wait for the statement.

Asked if there had been any discussion about future legislation, and was it leading up to The Queen's Speech, or was there going to be a period where there was no Queen's Speech until the start of Parliament, the PMS said that the detail of the process of how the Government would take forward its legislative programme would be part of the announcements later today. Therefore, it would be easier to have that discussion once it was known what was in the statement.

Asked if the Prime Minister had outlined anything about how he expected people to conduct themselves, the PMS said that there would be an update of the Ministerial Code as part of the package of measures that were being considered.

Asked with regards to the housing package, was there any discussion of the issue of sub-prime lending, and whether that was a risk to the market, the PMS replied that it was a wide ranging discussion, and was more focused on what could be done in order to help address challenges faced on affordability by first time buyers in particular.

Asked if the discussion had been more about building more homes, the PMS said that clearly the big challenge on the affordability issue was to ensure that enough homes were built in order to match ever-increasing demand.

Asked how many Ministers had replied to the consultation on constitutional changes with proposals to amend or replace anything, the PMS replied that he did not want to get into the process of who said what. However, as he had said at the time of the first Cabinet meeting, every member of the Cabinet spoke and those comments were reflected in updated versions of the document and the Prime Minister's statement.

Asked again how many spoke today, the PMS replied that it was a lengthy discussion on a wide range of issues.

Asked if there were any views from the Prime Minister about the future of the Human Rights Act, the PMS replied that it was best to wait for the statement.

Put that it was a "packed programme" with regards to statements, and was this set to continue in the run up to Recess, the PMS replied that we had always made it clear that we were expecting a busy July.

Asked if it was expected that the statements on Wednesday and Thursday to contain specific legislative ideas or would they instead contain broad overviews of the legislative process, the PMS said people should wait for the statement.

Put that private equity bosses were appearing before the Treasury Select Committee today, and what was the Prime Minister's attitude towards it, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister was always a great promoter of the enterprise agenda when he was Chancellor, and that would continue now he was Prime Minister. However, there had been specific issues, and particular concerns raised, but the Treasury was conducting a review on some of these issues, so journalists should consult them for further information.
Asked what the legislative follow though was on the constitutional details, the PMS said that people should wait for the statement this afternoon. It was clearly a broad spectrum; at one end, there were specific proposals that could be implanted immediately, and at the other end was a very green, open consultative process. Some of these issues would require legislation, but in terms of specifics and timetables, it was best to wait for the statement.

Terror Incidents

Put that there had been no mention over the past few days of "Muslims" or "Islamic" and was this a deliberate change of tone, the PMS said that it was not true to think that instructions had been sent round the Cabinet to this effect, contrary to reports which had over-interpreted what the PMS had said yesterday. Rather, he would let the Prime Minister's words from Sunday speak for themselves.

Asked what kinds of talks were going on with Muslim groups at the moment, the PMS replied that there had been discussions, and there would be further talks over the period ahead, but it was best to talk to the DCLG on the specifics.

Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to Australian Prime Minister John Howard, the PMS replied that he was sure that we had been in contact with the Australians.

ENDS

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