Queen’s Speech ‘election stunt’
BORIS JOHNSON’S first Queen’s Speech as Prime Minister has drawn fire from the opposition as a pre-election stunt.
A raft of anti-crime Bills dominated the state opening of Parliament, as well as proposed legislation on immigration and the environment.
The Government used the set-piece Westminster occasion to again insist making sure Brexit is achieved on the October 31 deadline is a priority.
With the Prime Minister pushing for a snap general election the legislative programme presented is being seen as a bid by Mr Johnson to set out his campaign agenda.
Ahead of the speech, the pre-election atmosphere intensified as Chancellor Sajid Javid announced a Budget on November 6 – just six days after the UK’s scheduled exit date from the EU.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford tweeted: “The Queen’s Speech was an election broadcast for the Tory Party more than anything else.
“A speech heavy on law and order from a Prime Minister willing to break the law.”
Labour branded the event “farcical” and a “stunt”.
In a heavily trailed package of 26 Bills, seven related to crime and justice.
These include legislation to keep serious criminals in prison for longer, impose tougher sentences on foreign offenders who return to the UK and provide better protection for victims of domestic abuse.
The Queen said: “New sentencing laws will see that the most serious offenders spend longer in custody to reflect better the severity of their crimes.”
A Sentencing Bill will change the automatic release point from halfway to two thirds for adult offenders serving sentences of four years or more for serious violence or sexual offences.
On Brexit, the Queen said: “My Government’s priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on October 31.”
Ministers are preparing to rush through a Bill to ratify any Brexit deal Mr Johnson is able to agree this week in Brussels in time for Britain to leave on schedule.
Other measures outlined in the speech include strengthening environmental protections, improving the NHS, ending free movement of labour from the EU and raising living standards through increasing the national living wage to £10.50 an hour.
On adult social care, the Government has pledged to “bring forward proposals” for reform, but the lack of a specific Bill dealing with the situation is likely to draw fire from the opposition.
With no Commons majority, it is questionable how much of the proposed legislation in the Queen’s Speech ministers can get through Parliament before a general election.
The programme also includes a “Helen’s Law” Bill, named after 22-year-old Helen McCourt who was murdered in 1988, to deny parole to murderers who withhold information about their victims.