Jobs to fore in Queen’s Speech but social care is sadly lacking
BORIS Johnson yesterday promised to unleash the “pent-up energy of the UK economy” as he set out the Queen’s Speech, but was accused by opposition leader Keir Starmer of pitting regions against each other in a “fight” for limited funding.
The Queen unveiled the UK Government’s programme in her first major public ceremonial appearance since the death of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, but the occasion was stripped of much of its pomp as a result of the pandemic.
The Prime Minister told MPs the programme would “take this country forward” and spread opportunity across the country.
But measures to address the longstanding issue of social care funding in England were not included in the speech.
Proposals on social care will not appear until later this year – despite Mr Johnson’s promise when he entered No 10 two years ago that he had already prepared a “clear plan” to fix the system.
The Prime Minister said: “We will bring forward proposals to reform adult social care so that every person receives the dignity and security they deserve.”
The Welsh Government needs clarity about England’s proposals on social care before implementing change itself because it will need to know how much money will be coming its way to pay for any reform.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the failure to act on social care after the pandemic was “nothing short of an insult to the whole nation”.
Also missing was a bill on dealing with the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, although Mr Johnson said legislation will be introduced.
Issues regarding the treatment of veterans of the Troubles have been highly controversial amid suggestions that any protection from prosecution offered to service personnel may also be extended to terrorists.
Mr Johnson said the government’s legacy package will deliver “better outcomes for victims, survivors and veterans”, focused on reconciliation and ending the “cycle of investigations”.
The Prime Minister said: “We must harness the ingenuity and resolve that has been revealed in the struggle against Covid-19 and use it to create a stronger, healthier and more prosperous nation.
“We have been given an historic opportunity to change things for the better, level up opportunities across the whole of the United Kingdom, and address the problems that have constrained us far too often before.”
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Johnson added: “We One Nation Conservatives understand this crucial point: that you will find flair and imagination and enthusiasm and genius distributed evenly across this country, while opportunity is not.
“And we mean to change that because it is not just a moral and social disgrace, it’s an economic mistake, it’s a criminal waste of talent.”
About 30 pieces of legislation were promised in the speech – some of which apply to the UK as a whole, some to England and Wales, and, as a result of devolution, some to England only.
The planned legislation includes:
■ A Health and Care Bill to better integrate the NHS and social care systems;
■ A Planning Bill to make it easier to build new homes, schools and hospitals;
■ New laws to scrap the Fixed-term Parliaments Act, meaning it will be easier for Mr Johnson to call an early general election before 2024;
■ A Counter-State Threats Bill to introduce a US-style register of foreign agents to help counter espionage and influence from hostile governments;
■ An Online Safety Bill requiring tech giants to tackle illegal content on their platforms and clearly set out in their terms what content is and is not acceptable;
■ The return of the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which saw demonstrations over concerns that it would curtail the right to protest when it was last before Parliament; and
■ A Higher Education (Free Speech) Bill giving regulators the power to fine universities or students’ unions in England if they fail to protect freedom of expression.
The UK Government also promised a “levelling-up White Paper”
setting out how Mr Johnson intends to meet the promises made to voters in former Labour-voting areas.
Also planned are measures to ban so-called conversion therapy to protect LGBT communities from “abhorrent practices” which can cause mental and physical harm.
Reform of asylum laws aimed at making it harder for people to illegally cross from continental Europe and claim sanctuary in the UK is also on the agenda, although the United Nations refugee agency has called for a rethink and opposition figures have branded the proposals “cruel”.
The usual pomp of the State Opening of Parliament was scaled back to reduce the potential for spread of Covid-19, and all attendees had to have a negative test beforehand.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall joined the Queen at the event, but there were no horsedrawn carriages.
The Queen, in day dress and hat, travelled from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster by car.
In the Commons, Sir Keir said Mr Johnson had “squandered” the chance to set out a “transformative agenda to rebuild Britain’s foundations after a decade of neglect and a year of national sacrifice”.
The Labour leader also claimed the Prime Minister is trying to “run away” from his party’s record in government over the last decade.
Sir Keir did acknowledge there are parts of the Queen’s Speech that Labour is willing to work with the government on, but his overall assessment was far less complimentary.
He told MPs: “This Queen’s Speech merely papers over the cracks.
“It’s packed with short-term gimmicks and distant promises, this government’s never short of those, but it misses the urgency and the scale of the transformation that’s needed in our economy, in our public services and our society and it lacks the ambition or a plan to achieve it.
“At the heart of this Queen’s Speech should have been a jobs plan.”
He added: “A Queen’s Speech that pits regions against each other in a fight for limited funding.
“An economy still driven by chronic short-termism and government preparing to take money out of the pockets of working people and a Chancellor saddling business with debt when they need to invest.”
On the NHS, he added: “It is unforgivable that there is no clear plan to fix social care.”
Sir Keir said legislation to ban conversion therapy is “long overdue”, adding: “Conversion therapy is always wrong and indefensible, so we’ll look very carefully when legislation is brought forward, which it must be done soon.
“We will also look carefully at the draft online safety bill, this has been much delayed and we need urgent and effective legislation.
“And we’re always willing, always willing, to work on a cross-party basis to end violence against women and girls. We will bring forward our own proposals on this in the coming days, but of course we will look at any legislation the government brings forward in this area.”
Responding, Mr Johnson said the UK must not simply bounce back but “bounce forward”.
The Prime Minister told the Commons: “In a matter of five months this country has inoculated over 35 million people, two-thirds of the adult population, with the biggest, the fastest programme of mass vaccination in British history, that has helped us to take step after decisive step on our roadmap to freedom.
“And as life comes back to our great towns and cities like some speeded-up Walt Disney film about the return of spring to the tundra, we can feel the pent-up energy of the UK economy, the suppressed fizz like a pressurised keg of beer about to be cautiously broached on Monday in an indoor setting.”
He told MPs the government has been using this time to “work flat out to ensure that we can not just bounce back, bounce forward”.
He added: “Because this government won’t settle for going back to the way things were.
“The people of this country have shown by their amazing response to Covid that we can do better than that and the people of this country deserve better than that.”
Mr Johnson also said: “Though we cannot for one moment minimise the damage that Covid has done, the loss of learning, the NHS backlogs, the courts delays, the massive fiscal consequences – we must use this opportunity to achieve a national recovery so that jabs, jabs jabs becomes jobs, jobs, jobs.”