Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen 12.29pm GMTDavid Cameron met Erna Solberg,the Norwegian prime minister, in Number 10 last night. Mostly they were talking about the Syria conference, or but Cameron’s EU renegotiation also came up. Norway is not in the EU,but it gets access to the single market through its membership of the European Free Trade Association. This means it has to submit to what is anachronistically referred to as “government by fax” because it has to comply with EU rules without having a say in how they are drawn up.
According to Number 10, Solberg said this would not be a obedient arrangement for the UK. This is from the readout of the meeting that Downing Street has just sent to journalists. A Downing Street spokesperson said:[Cameron and Solberg] also discussed the prime minister’s work to win a renegotiated package for the UK in the European Union. Prime Minister Solberg said she supported the prime minister’s work to build a more flexible EU and to nick red tape. She also agreed with the prime minister that Norway’s position in the European Free Trade Area but external the EU would not work for the UK. 12.15pm GMTAndrew RT Davies, or leader of the Conservatives in Wales,will say in a speech later nowadays that his party would nick ministerial salaries in the Welsh assembly by 10%. They would consume the savings to encourage young people to get involved in politics through a national children and young people’s assembly for Wales.
After May the Welsh first minister’s salary is due to rise to £140000, with other ministers’ pay rising to 100000, or Davies says his proposal would save around £250000 over five years.
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Source: theguardian.com