Absence of help with cost of living a bad miss in the Queen’s Speech
THE ASSESSMENT from one union leader, that the Government has “run out of ideas” on what to do about the cost of living crisis, may be uncomfortably near the truth.
While yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, unveiling the Bills the Government intends to bring into law in the months ahead, was high on style, it was short on substance.
A legislative programme has, necessarily, to be drawn up over several months leading up to its delivery in Parliament. But there can be no excuses for the Government to have included virtually nothing in yesterday’s speech directly aimed at easing the burden for hard-up families.
After the half-hearted measures introduced by the Chancellor in his ill-starred financial statement earlier this year, it looks as if the Government has turned its back on direct intervention in support of those hit hardest by soaring bills.
And while ministers’ alternative tactic of seeking to grow the economy earned some praise from business leaders, it is hardly going to solve the immediate crisis for families who are getting closer than ever to the breadline.
Business leader Matthew Fell may be right with his assessment that the focus on “infrastructure, energy security and skills all lay the foundations for sustainable, longer-term growth”.
He may be correct, too, to say that “reaching for smarter, better regulation will ensure the UK remains world-leading in finance and put us at the front of the pack to make the most of emerging technologies”.
But the hard-pressed need something to help them now, not measures that will, over time, boost the economy – important as they are for the longer term.
It may be the Conservative way to keep hand-outs to a minimum, especially in an inflationary period when they could end up fuelling a cost of living increase.
But if only for the sake of shoring up his chances of keeping his restive MPs on side and building towards a general election victory sometime in the next two years, Boris Johnson needs to do more.
Moves to meet the Government’s oft-quoted levelling up ambitions could make a difference on issues like housing and local accountability. There is much to praise in this and other bills outlined by Prince Charles, standing in for the Queen yesterday for the first time, as she struggles with mobility issues.
But people were looking for a quick fix for the cost of living crisis – similar to the generally successful fixes that Chancellor Rishi Sunak implemented at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, when urgent support was necessary.
This crisis, although not a matter of life and death – for the majority, at least – is as big a problem in its way as coronavirus was for the economy.
And it does suspiciously seem, as the unions warn, that, while innovative ideas were clearly in evidence at the Treasury when Covid struck, they are in seriously short supply right now.
It is true, as Boris Johnson said yesterday, that Governments can’t do everything to shield people. But it can do more. It must.