UPDATE: UK PM: Important BP Remains A Strong, Stable Company

23rd Jun 2010 13:59

(Adds PM quotes and details.) By Alex Delmar-Morgan Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said Wednesday it was important BP PLC (BP) remains a "strong and stable company" in the interests of the oil giant's U.S. and U.K. shareholders. "We do want to make sure this remains a strong and stable company for our benefit and for the benefit of the U.S.," Cameron told Parliament Wednesday. He said the energy firm, which is facing severe criticism over its handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, is owned 40% by U.S. shareholders and 39% by U.K. investors. "It [BP] employs more people in the U.S. than it does in the U.K. so it's in all our interests that this company is strong and secure for the future," Cameron added. Earlier Wednesday BP's Robert Dudley took control of the Gulf of Mexico clean-up operation from the group's beleaguered Chief Executive Tony Hayward, and became president and CEO of the oil firm's newly created Gulf Coast Restoration Organization. While oil still gushes into the Gulf of Mexico from BP's Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig, which sank after an explosion in late April, the spill is becoming an increasingly political issue between the U.S. and the U.K. Cameron told Parliament he spoke to U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone about the spill late Tuesday, saying the conversation had been "very good." On domestic issues, Cameron defended the spending cuts announced by U.K. Chancellor George Osborne in Tuesday's emergency budget. "We want to do everything we can to keep police officers on the streets, to have money going into our schools, to keep up spending on our hospitals and the only way we are going to be able do it is if we deal with the problems of excessive welfare spending," Cameron said. Osborne announced cuts to spending which will result in cuts of 25% in real terms in some departmental budgets over the next four years, a two-year public sector pay freeze and GBP11 billion of cuts in welfare spending, including a three-year freeze on child tax credits. -By Alex Delmar-Morgan, Dow Jones Newswires; +207 842 9496; [email protected] (MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires June 23, 2010 08:59 ET (12:59 GMT)