No. 10 Afternoon Press Briefing From 13 Dec. 2007

Briefing from the British Prime Minister's Spokesman on: EU Reform Treaty, Liaison Committee, Counter Terrorism and Police Pay.

Afternoon Press Briefing from Thursday 13 December 2007

EU Reform Treaty

The Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) started by telling journalists that the Prime Minister had signed the Treaty and was expected to have bilateral meetings with EU leaders afterwards, including Prime Minister Socrates, but was unable to confirm any others in advance.

Put that the Prime Minister was limited to the number of leaders he could meet with as many of them had left, the PMS said we would have to wait and see who he was able to meet this afternoon.

Asked if the Prime Minister was planning to do any media after his meeting with Prime Minister Socrates, the PMS said he was planning on doing a clip this afternoon.

Asked what the Prime Minister's mood was as he signed the Treaty, the PMS said that the Prime Minister was obviously very pleased to be able to sign the Treaty; it was something he had negotiated and believed it to be a good treaty.

Liaison Committee

Asked what the mood was after the Liaison Committee and asked if it was something the Prime Minister would want to do again, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had expressed his thanks to the members of the Liaison Committee and his warm seasonal greetings expressed his views on the issue.

Asked if it was the intention to carry on with the Liaison Committees every 6 months, the PMS said she certainly had no information that would suggest otherwise.

Asked if the Prime Minister had received the Poynter Review, the PMS said that, in terms of the publication of the interim reviews from Kieran Poynter, obviously it would be dealt with in due course; she was not going to get into a commentary of what papers the Prime Minister had seen but obviously, as was said at the time, the findings of that review would be made public.

Asked if the interim report would be made public, the PMS said the findings of the report would be made public; normal processes would apply.

Counter Terrorism

Asked if there was any reaction to the reports on Counter Terrorism, the PMS said that it was appropriate that the Home Secretary had already issued a short written statement on the Select Committee's report welcoming the expression of their view that the current pre-charge detention limit may prove inadequate in the future.

Police Pay

Put that the Prime Minister had said this morning that there was no room for manoeuvre regarding Police pay and that that was a rather difficult way to start a negotiation, the PMS said that the Prime Minister had set out the fact that these were difficult decisions and they were difficult decisions that people weren't necessarily comfortable with at the time, but that they needed to be taken and we needed to keep the bigger picture regarding our economy, stability and inflation in mind. The PMS had nothing to add to what the Prime Minister had said as he had been very clear.

ENDS

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