Press release

Number 10 Press Briefing - Morning From 6 July 2010

Briefing by the Prime Minister's Spokesman on: Cabinet, BP, Alternative Vote and public sector pay.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

Cabinet

皇冠体育app Prime Minister鈥檚 Spokesman (PMS) said that the Prime Minister spoke at Cabinet this morning about yesterday鈥檚 announcement on electoral reform. He confirmed that he would be taking part in the campaign, but this would not mean he would give up his day job and tour the country.

皇冠体育app Prime Minister also took Cabinet through the Detainees Statement this afternoon. It would be a comprehensive statement, which would address legacy issues as well as providing clarity for the security services so they could get on with the vital job they do for this country.

Asked for more details about the statement, the PMS said that reporters should wait for the statement; the objective was to deal with the past and provide clarity for the secret services to do their job in the future.

皇冠体育app PMS went on to say that Cabinet also discussed structural reform plans, which all departments would be publishing over the coming months. 皇冠体育appse plans would be the first part of the business plans that each department would have, followed up with resourcing plans, which would follow from the spending review process. 皇冠体育appy would form a basis of a continuing discussion between departments and the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to monitor progess.

BP

Asked if the Government was involved in drawing up contingency plans for BP, the PMS said that our position on contingency plans was that whether or not they were happening we didn鈥檛 comment on them, and people shouldn鈥檛 read anything into that.

Asked if the Government recognised BP鈥檚 significance regarding pensions, the PMS said that there was nothing to add to what senior Ministers had already said about BP.

Alternative Vote

Asked if the Prime Minister would be making a speech and doing an interview on AV during the campaign, the PMS said that he didn鈥檛 want to get into specific details; the Prime Minister would make his views known at the time.

Asked if the Prime Minister had specifically said that he didn鈥檛 want to be seen to be campaigning, the PMS said no, the Prime Minister had not said that.

Public sector pay

Asked how much money would be saved following Francis Maude鈥檚 announcement on compensation, the PMS said that it would depend on a number of factors including the outcome of the spending review and the rates of turnover in the public sector, but people should speak to the Cabinet Office for details.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought it was time to end national pay rates for civil servants, the PMS said that the Government鈥檚 position was that there would be a pay freeze for the next two years.

Updates to this page

Published 6 July 2010