State Opening of Parliament

Following the swearing-in of MPs elected at the general election, the Queen’s Speech on Thursday set out the Government’s agenda for the new session of Parliament.

Seven of the 30 Bills were on Brexit - but I fear that the Government’s deal will not put Brexit to bed. It will just be the beginning of years of more drawn-out negotiations.

Much of the speech contained the priorities and language of the policies I have been calling for - but without adequate substance.

Investment is desperately needed in every part of our country. However, the scale of investment planned by the Government falls short of what is required.

One of the Bills seeks to enshrine the funding settlement for the NHS in law. I don’t believe a law should be necessary to increase funding for the NHS and I would urge the Government to provide the extra funding experts say is needed to start to make up for the cuts.  

The speech promised to “seek cross-party consensus on proposals for long term reform of social care”. This is not an adequate plan and is the same promise as in the last two Queen’s speeches. There are 1.5 million more over 75s expected in the next 10 years, yet the Government is only putting £1 back into social care for every £8 that has been cut.

The Government says that it will take action on hospital car parking fees, which I have long called for, but whereas I would want those fees to be abolished, only some people will be entitled to free parking under its plans.

As was the case at the most recent Queen’s speech, only two months ago, the Government set out its intention to require voters to have photo ID at the ballot box. Some 11 million people in this country do not have a passport or a driving licence and this rule could impact them. I will strongly oppose it.

In terms of what was not covered in the speech, I was disappointed at the lack of measures to deal with the challenge of climate and environmental emergency. Net zero carbon emissions by 2050, which is the Government’s target, is too late and, in any case, at the current rate of progress we will not reach net zero until 2099.

There was no mention of measures to address poverty in the speech. 14 million people are living in poverty in this, the fifth richest country in the world.

I will scrutinise all the plans announced on Thursday on business rates, immigration, sentencing, housing and broadband very carefully. Indeed, in the weeks and months ahead it will be a vital part of my role to examine all the detail of the Government’s programme and to highlight issues and press for change where needed.