Press briefing: morning 31 October 2013
The Prime Minister’s Spokesperson (PMS) answered questions on housing, migration, energy and Europe.
Housing
Asked if the Prime Minister (PM) saw merit in charging foreign investors in the London property market to pay Capital Gains Tax, the PMS said he would not comment on speculation.
Asked if the PM agreed that the country needed more bungalows, the PMS said that it was important that there was a mix of affordable housing. There have been 150,000 houses built in the last 3 years.
Asked if the PM was concerned about a house pricing bubble in the South East, the PMS said a range of approaches on housing was needed.
Migration
Asked if the PM wanted to defy the rules on the limits of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants coming from the EU which finish at the end of the year, the PMS said the PM’s view was that it was right to have the transitional controls. The PM’s view was that we needed to bring net migration down.
Energy
Asked if the energy review was sufficient, the PMS said that it was important it was starting straight away and that we quickly look at how to get more competition into the market.
Europe
Asked what the PM made of suggestions from the Home Affairs Select Committee that plans to bring back justice and policing powers from Brussels may not result in the repatriation of many powers, the PMS said that the approach taken by the Home Secretary was the right one.