LONDON, June 12: Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that although there were other issues of concern facing Britain but for him the most pressing one is ‘the oil and food crisis’.
Speaking at 10 Downing Street press conference here on Thursday, the PM claimed that he was the best person to address the oil issue, “but it's a global problem that needs a global solution.”
He said because demand exceeded supply, prices continued to increase “but Britain is well placed to deal with it, because the economy is strong.”
He said he is determined to do more to help consumers and promised to draw up a short-term and medium-term plan, “I will also be pressing other leaders for action at forthcoming summits.”
Answering a number of questions on the 42-day detention measure, Brown said there was “no deal” to clinch the vote on the bill, “to imply otherwise is to detract from the strength of the arguments. I do not offer deals on terrorism. But I am entitled to address concerns people had about the legislation itself.”
Asked why other countries do not have similar detention legisla-tion, Brown said the country-by-country comparisons produced by Liberty have not always been accurate because they do not compare like with like.
Asked for “any advice” for the Irish, who are voting on the EU treaty on Thursday, Brown said he hoped the Irish come out to vote in large numbers.
Answering a question on missing secret files on Al Qaeda, Brown admitted that it was a very serious incident, the government was finding out what happened to the documents before they were handed over to the BBC.
Asked why the documents were given to the BBC, and not the police, Brown said they were now with the police.
Asked about his recent polls related ‘unpopularity’, Brown said the important thing was to get up in the morning and do what you think is right.
On the Middle East, Brown said he was planning to visit Israel in the next few weeks.
When asked if he would call for an academic boycott of Israel, Mr Brown said he does not want to see boycotts, “they would be very unfortunate”.
When asked what he would do about child poverty, Brown said the numbers in absolute poverty have fallen from 3.5 million to 1.8 million.
The numbers in relative poverty have also fallen, although not as dramatically.
There has been a problem over the last two years, “but the government has announced plans to cut poverty further.”
When asked if he would announce the withdrawal of troops from Iraq before the end of the year, he said he has reduced the number of troops in Iraq and that Britain will continue to train Iraqi forces.
Brown said the appointment of a new PM in Lebanon has created an opportunity for the parties there to come together.
In answer to a question, Brown said the issues he has been discussing now, oil and food prices, will be at the top of his agenda for his upcoming talks with Bush on Sunday.