Queen’s Speech
He pledges to lead a ‘golden age’ of Tory rule in ‘radical’ Queen’s Speech
Setting out his stall for two terms in office, the Prime Minister pledged to take Britain out of the EU by the end of next month. BoRIS Johnson yesterday mapped out ambitious plans to turn the 2020s into a ‘golden age’ of Tory rule.
He said: ‘we have no time to waste and we begin immediately with the most radical Queen’s Speech in a generation to deliver on the priorities of the people.’
Mr Johnson vowed to embark on an ‘overarching programme of national renewal’, which could include a bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland.
The process will begin today when MPs hold a historic vote on the withdrawal Agreement Bill, which enshrines Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal in law.
But, buoyed by the 80-strong majority secured last week, the PM made it clear he is already planning for a second term.
Introducing the Queen’s Speech package to the Commons, he said: ‘This is not a programme for one year or one parliament. It is a blueprint for the future of Britain. Just imagine where this country could be in ten years’ time.’
He added: ‘I do not think it vainglorious or implausible to say that a new golden age for this United Kingdom is now within reach. And in spite of the negativity you will hear from the other side we will work flat out to deliver it.’ His upbeat message came as: The Prime Minister ruled out a second referendum on Scottish independence, saying he would ‘never allow anyone to rip up or rend asunder’ the Union;
Ministers declared the Brexit department would be scrapped on January 31, the day Britain is due to leave the EU;
The Government announced plans to offer a 30 per cent discount on new homes to local first-time buyers, coupled with a shake-up of the planning system;
Mr Johnson pledged an update to treason laws to ensure citizens who pass sensitive information to hostile states like Russia can be prosecuted;
Labour frontbencher Clive Lewis became the latest to enter the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn with a pledge to take the party even further to the Left;
An extension to the transition period was ruled out, meaning Britain will fully exit the EU by the end of next year;
Ministers announced new plans to tackle illegal traveller camps;
Zac Goldsmith was handed a peerage a week after being kicked out by voters in Richmond, London, allowing him to remain in the Cabinet as environment minister.
Yesterday’s Queen’s Speech contained 36 separate pieces of legislation, with Brexit dominant.
The Queen declared that leaving the EU was the overriding ‘priority’ of her new Government. A huge raft of legislation preparing Britain for life outside the EU will follow next year as the Government brings in new systems for immigration, trade, farming and fishing.
But Tory strategists are also keen to show the new Government is fulfilling election pledges. The
Government will legislate to lock in an extra £34billion of funding for the NHS over the next four years.
And hospital parking charges will also be scrapped for those deemed most in need.
The Prime Minister said: ‘I feel a colossal sense of obligation to the electorate who I am humbled to serve, to those people who lent us their votes – however hesitantly – this Government will now engage flat out on a programme of change for the better.’
He said the Government would also use spending on education and infrastructure to ‘level up’ opportunity in neglected towns in the Midlands and the North. However, there was no sign of a longterm plan to tackle social care, with an extra £ 1billion- a- year pledged to paper over the cracks.
Cross-party talks are planned for a long-term solution so ‘nobody needing care will be forced to sell their home to pay for it’. In a sur
‘We have produced a blue collar revolution’
prise move, Mr Johnson appeared to revive plans for a £20billion bridge linking Scotland and Northern Ireland – a 28-mile route dismissed as impractical by experts.
The PM told DUP MP Ian Paisley: ‘Watch this space.’
Eddie Hughes, Tory MP for Walsall North, said Mr Johnson had produced a ‘ blue collar revolution’. Former Tory chancellor Norman Lamont predicted the Brexit ‘war’ that had split Britain was now over.
He added: ‘Grass should now be allowed to grow over the battlefield.
‘It’s time for the process of healing and reconciliation to begin.’
THE fact that yesterday’s Queen’s Speech contained no fewer than 36 new pieces of legislation is testimony to two truths.
First, it shows how completely the levers of government had seized up under the ‘zombie’ Parliament of the past three years.
Secondly, it proves Boris Johnson’s determination to free them up and get Britain moving again. The great Commons gridlock is finally over.
This is a vision for a decade in power. And there is certainly boldness there.
A potentially transformative increase in NHS spending to be enshrined in law, longer sentences for violent offenders, sweeping reviews of planning and the criminal justice system.
The woeful Fixed-Term Parliaments Act to be scrapped, along with hated hospital car parking charges. And seven separate Bills to make Brexit a reality.
True, there are gaps. There’s precious little clarity on social care reform, without which no amount of extra money will be enough to fix the NHS.
And while there is some indication of infrastructure schemes with which Mr Johnson hopes to galvanise the left-behind towns of Middle Britain, we need to see much more.
These are early days, and the Mail doesn’t doubt the Prime Minister’s enthusiasm or good intentions. But many of the major reforms and projects needed to revitalise the nation will take years to come to fruition.
There is no time to lose in getting them under way.
Tony Blair, the last prime minister elected on a landslide, said his greatest regret was that he hadn’t used the momentum of victory to move further and faster at the beginning of his term.
To achieve his ambition of ten years in Downing Street, Mr Johnson must learn from that mistake.