Number 10 press briefing - afternoon from 2 June 2010
Briefing by the Prime Minister's spokesman on: Prime Minister's Questions, House of Lords and Cumbria.
PMQs
Put that the Prime Minister had not answered a significant question, the Prime Minister’s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that the Prime Minister said he would write to the MP concerned.
Asked if the funding for Nissan was in doubt, the PMS said that the Prime Minister would write to the MP concerned and that the letter would be sent shortly.
Asked if the Prime Minister would write to the MP before the review into the previous government’s spending commitments had been completed, the PMS replied that people would need to speak to the Treasury on the process. The PMS added that he was sure the government would do everything by the book and respect its obligations of informing Parliament in the right way.
House of Lords
Asked about a Motion on the House of Lords that the Prime Minister had spoken about and the fact that it would happen in December, the PMS said that the Coalition Agreement had stated that we would come forward with proposals which the House would get to vote on in December.
Asked how fast the process would be if MPs voted for elected Lords, the PMS replied that there would need to be some specific proposals and process agreed. A Motion allowed the House to express a view.
Put that the Deputy Prime Minister had already said that he hoped Lords would get elected at the next election, the PMS said that if the Deputy Prime Minister had said that then that was the case.
Asked if there had been a speeding up of the process as the Prime Minister was now saying that the matter would be voted on in December, the PMS said that this was broadly what the Government had said last week. The intention had always been to get on with this; political reform generally was a priority for the government.
Asked if the government thought that there was a link between reform in the Lords and reform in the House of Commons and did that reform need to be done in tandem, the PMS said that in terms of timing, the two priorities would be the Alternative Vote issue and the issue of equal sized constituencies. All of these reforms were part of a linked agenda.
Cumbria
Asked whether the government would be involved following the events in Cumbria, the PMS said that the situation was as set out in the Police statement that came out around an hour ago as well as the Prime Minister’s statement at PMQs. The events were still unfolding and agencies were working together closely.
Miscellaneous
Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to anyone at BP or anyone in the White House administration about the oil spill, the PMS said that he was not aware of any conversation taking place.