Press briefing - afternoon 24 January 2013
The Prime Minister's Spokesperson (PMS) answered questions on the IMF, Libya and the voting age
Prime Minister’s activity
The PM is in Davos. He has met with the Russian Prime Minister, Mr Medvedev. He has also had a short meeting with Chancellor Merkel and also, in the margins of his speech, with Prime Ministers Monti, Rutte, Kenny and Thorning-Scmidt. Further details of the meetings would be provided as soon as possible. When questioned, the PMS said that he was not aware that the PM had met any of his predecessors while at the conference.
IMF
The PMS said that he was aware of a report from the International Monetary Fund, but that the PM’s view remained unchanged - a plan has been put in place to tackle the deficit and the economy is healing.
Libya
Asked about updated travel advice from the FCO regarding travel to Benghazi, the PMS stated that the government does not discuss the intelligence that underlies changes to travel advice.
Voting age
The PMS said that there were no plans to change the voting age.
Immigration
Asked about research into the number of Romanian and Bulgarian nationals likely to come to the UK once transitional controls have been eased, the PMS confirmed that the government was in discussions with a number of EU partners about possible measures in this sphere, but that requests for projected statistics should be directed towards the relevant government departments.