A spokeswoman for prime minister David Cameron has said that the UK oil industry's largest corporation, BP, must find the solution to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill - and not the government.
Questioned by reporters, she explained that the government is working with the oil industry giant to assist the US government in tackling the spill.
However, she denied that the UK government should see the leak as its own responsibility to help resolve, instead calling on BP to do so.
She also defended why, until a routine call this past weekend, Mr Cameron had not spoken to President Obama about the situation since he was first elected to office.
Instead, representatives of the Department of Energy and Climate Change have been speaking to their counterparts in the US.
The prime minister's spokeswoman suggested that Mr Cameron has confidence in the department and the energy minister to deal with the US - and that, as an energy-related issue, the department is most qualified to conduct the collaboration.
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