The Queen’s Speech: a round-up
Pomp and ceremony outweighed legislative substance even more than usual in this year’s speech, which was deliberately light on new policies because of the upcoming EU referendum. However, underneath all the wigs and pageantry there was a subtle message from the government: let us finish the job. Many of the announcements made today depend on the administration’s survival past the referendum if they are to be seen through.
Mostly, it was pretty uncontroversial stuff. There was the Children and Social Work Bill to help speed up adoptions, the Higher Education and Research bill to “ensure that more people have the opportunity to further their education”, and even a Bus Services Bill and Lifetime Savings Bill “to help the lowest-income families save”. What’s not to like about these?
The Labour party is likely to have a hard time arguing against them, which was probably one of the government’s aims. Another was to take advantage of the opposition’s problems by fomenting divisions in its ranks and exploiting the gap in the centre ground left by Jeremy Corbyn. Trident, prison reform and an “education for all” bill were perhaps all in there, in part, to achieve these aims.
Elsewhere, many policies were borrowed from the last budget to fill the time and space. A soft drinks levy was announced by the chancellor in March. Likewise the Local Growth and Jobs Bill, which will allow local authorities to retain business rates, had also been announced before. Even the British Bill of Rights – which, like Halley’s Comet, seems to make a periodical appearance in the Commons – was included. “The annual Queen’s speech pledge to pretend to introduce a British Bill of Rights is getting more efficient: last year 12 words, this year 11,” joked one Labour peer.
One thing that is new though are plans to close old and inefficient prisons while ensuring better mental health provision is made for those in jail. This was mostly greeted as good news, though a policy that could see satellite-tagged inmates sent home on weekdays was greeted by the CEO of the Howard League for Penal Reform as “bizarre”. But this was not enough to stop Mr Cameron’s opponents in his own party from saying that he was not radical enough. Iain Duncan Smith, a pro-Brexit MP, claimed the speech had been “watered down” because of the EU referendum.
He may have a point. This was a Queen’s speech drafted not to introduce new policies but to highlight the good Mr Cameron’s government has promised to do and remind the wider electorate why he was elected. This was reinforced by a tweet from the prime minister which repeated a now familiar refrain: “This is a one nation Queen’s speech from a one nation government. It sets out a clear programme of reform.” All now counts on the EU referendum as to whether Cameron will get his chance to finish the job.
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