Cameron: BP need certainty about spill liabilities
BP must be given "certainty" about the potential liabilities it faces from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, David Cameron insisted today.
The British Prime Minister spoke out after US president Barack Obama suggested the firm could be forced to set up a huge compensation fund that would be independently administered.
Interviewed on BBC Radio 2's 'Jeremy Vine Show', Mr Cameron said he and Mr Obama had agreed during a phone conversation at the weekend that securing BP's future was important to both countries.
"My job absolutely is to make clear that this is an important company, and, as I discussed with the president, that while it is important that they pay reasonable claims - BP accept this themselves - they do need a level of certainty," the PM said.
"This is BP's worry, the (need for a) level of certainty that there won't be claims entertained that are three, four times removed from the oil spill."
Mr Cameron insisted BP was not "running away" from its responsibilities, and was determined to deal with the "environmental disaster".
But the company wanted "a level of certainty about what the responsibilities are".
Responding to criticism that he has not stood up for BP publicly despite "anti-British" criticism from the US administration, the British Prime Minister said resorting to "megaphone diplomacy" would not help the situation.
"The important thing is this should not become an issue between the US and the UK. President Obama doesn't want that, I don't want that," he said.
"I am very clear that we must make sure that BP is an important company, its financial stability is in our interests and in America's interests, and I will always make that clear."
Mr Obama used his first televised address from the Oval Office last night to accuse BP of recklessness and said he would order it to set up a fund to compensate victims and help the region's economy recover from America's worst ever environmental disaster.
The president will hold a crucial meeting with the company's chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg and other top BP executives at the White House later today.
