No. 10 Afternoon Press Briefing From 6 Dec 2007

Briefing from the British Prime Minister's Spokesman on: Talent challenge, Pre-charge Detention, Alcohol and Lisbon

Afternoon press briefing from 6 December 2007

Talent Challenge

Asked what the Talent Challenge was and where it would be held, the Prime Minister's Spokesman told the assembled press that it was something being organised by Business in the Community. The Talent Challenge was about how to harness the talent of every individual in the country and it was something that Business in the Community, under it's new chair, Stuart Rose of Marks and Spencer's was very supportive of, as was the Prime Minister.

Pre-charge Detention

Asked to explain why 42-day detention was better than any other amount of time, the PMS said that he was happy to go through the issue again following that morning's detailed discussion on the subject if people wanted him to. At which point, the question was withdrawn.

Asked if the Government was confident of it getting through Parliament, the PMS replied that it was the Government's intention to do this on a consultative and consensual basis. Obviously with any legislation the Government brought forward, it was done so on the anticipation that it would get through Parliament.

Alcohol

Put that Ben Bradshaw said in the Commons that afternoon that the Government was considering legislation on cut-price alcohol and how could you legislate against that unless a minimum price was brought in, the PMS said that he was not aware of the exact context in which Ben Bradshaw had made those remarks, so he would not want to comment on them.

Asked if there was a report on drinking being published shortly, the PMS replied that the key thing was the review of the licensing laws that was due in the New Year.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that some alcohol was being sold at too low a price, the PMS said that the Prime Minister thought that these were ultimately decisions taken by commercial organisations, but as was raised at the summit on alcohol, there were clearly some issues around enforcement on sellers to those under the legal age for example, that might need to be looked at.

Lisbon

Asked if there had been any news on the EU Summit, the PMS said that we were in exactly the same place in terms of scheduling, as we were this morning.

ENDS

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