The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
‘Threadbare’ programme as May ditches pledges
Prime Minister vows to overcome the divisions in society and to build consensus over Brexit
Theresa May has vowed to overcome the divisions in British society and build consensus on Brexit, as she ditched or watered down many of the policies from the Conservative manifesto.
But the Prime Minister was accused by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of offering a “threadbare” Queen’s Speech, which set out a two-year legislative programme dominated by preparations for withdrawal from the EU.
Of 27 Bills and draft Bills unveiled in the Queen’s Speech, eight are devoted to the complex process of leaving the European Union.
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and a string of terror attacks, the Prime Minister also announced plans for a civil disaster taskforce, a commission for countering extremism, a review of counter-terror strategy and the creation of an independent public advocate to act on behalf of bereaved families.
Following a bruising election which cost her Conservatives their majority in the Commons, Mrs May ditched manifesto plans to scrap universal free school lunches, expand grammars, means-test winter fuel payments and offer a free vote on fox-hunting.
Proposals for the so-called dementia tax were downgraded to “options” in a public consultation.
Also unveiled were Bills to extend the HS2 high-speed rail link to Crewe, permit the development of driverless cars, spaceports and commercial satellites, cut whiplash insurance claims, protect victims of domestic abuse and ban letting fees for private rented homes.
Mrs May said that her minority administration would seek to govern with “humility” to regain voters’ trust.
She also vowed to “see Brexit through”, but said that she would “seek to build a wide consensus” in doing so.
She said Britain had been through “an unsettling time which has tested the spirit of our country” and its response must be “compassion, unity, resolve”.
“The Queen’s Speech on its own will not solve every challenge our country faces,” she added. “But it is a step forward to building a more compassionate, more united and more confident nation.”
Following her failure to reach agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party, Mrs May is the first PM in decades to be faced by doubts over whether she can get her legislative programme through Parliament.
Conservative sources said talks with the DUP were “ongoing” after the Northern Irish party warned its support cannot be “taken for granted”.
Mr Corbyn dismissed the programme as “thin gruel” which showed the Conservatives were running out of ideas.
“This is a Government without a majority, without a mandate, without a serious legislative programme, led by a Prime Minister who has lost her personal authority and is struggling even today to stitch up a deal to stay in office,” he said.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said: “Having dropped everything from the dementia tax to fox hunting, I assume the only reason they have proposed a Space Bill is so they can shoot their manifesto into space and pretend it never existed.”
Party sources insisted Mrs May was “confident” of getting the Speech through the Commons, even though the result of next Thursday’s vote will be on a knife edge if no deal is reached with the DUP, who were reported to be holding out for £2 billion of investment in health and infrastructure in Northern Ireland.
But questions were raised over whether she will be able to get contentious Brexit legislation through the Lords, after Liberal Democrats said they did not believe their peers would be bound by the Salisbury Convention barring the Upper House from blocking manifesto pledges.
Lib Dem chief whip Alistair Carmichael said the convention would not apply after Mrs May fed her party’s manifesto “into a shredder”.
The Scottish National Party’s leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, said: “It took Theresa May just four days to ditch her first flagship manifesto policy, and it’s taken barely four weeks for her to ditch the rest.”
The state opening of Parliament took place without some of the traditional ceremony, with the Queen arriving by car rather than carriage and wearing a blue dress and hat rather than her robes and state crown.