Government sets out big plans, but little cost-of-living relief
Britain's Conservative government set out its agenda for the next year on Tuesday with sweeping promises to cut crime, improve health care and revive the U.K.'s pandemicscarred economy — but no new help for millions of Britons struggling to pay their bills as the cost of living soars.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson acknowledged that the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine had caused economic turmoil, but said “no government can realistically shield everyone from the impact.”
The government set out its legislative plans during a ceremony steeped in tradition, but without Queen Elizabeth II, who was absent for the first time in six decades.
The 96-year-old monarch pulled out of reading the Queen's Speech at the opening of Parliament because of what Buckingham Palace called “episodic mobility issues.” Her son and heir, Prince Charles, stood in, rattling through a short speech laying out 38 bills the government plans to pass.
The speech, which is written by the government, promised Johnson's administration would “grow and strengthen the economy and help ease the cost of living for families.” There were plans to invest in railways, create a U.K. infrastructure bank and “level up” economic opportunity to poorer regions, as well as bills on education and health care funding.
Johnson said the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine had created “huge disruptions to the global economy.” But the speech included no immediate measures to relieve households struggling with soaring prices for domestic energy and food.
“We cannot simply spend our way out of this problem,” Johnson told lawmakers. “We need to grow out of this problem by creating hundreds of thousands of new high-wage, high-skill jobs across the country.”
Opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer accused the government of being “too out of touch to meet the challenges of the moment.” He called for an emergency budget and a windfall tax on oil and gas producers.
Many business groups and unions also were disappointed.
The Confederation of British Industry was “encouraged” by the speech's ambition, but the British Chambers of Commerce said its measures “will come too late to help many firms.”
Christina McAnea, general-secretary of the Unison trade union, said the government had not “grasped the seriousness of the situation. Families are being forced into debt and are going hungry.”
Some of the planned laws appeared aimed at pleasing the government's right-leaning voter base, including promises to seize “Brexit freedoms” by cutting red tape for businesses and overhauling financial services and data regulation now that Britain has left the European Union.
Law-and-order measures included a law to outlaw disruptive protest tactics favored by groups such as Extinction Rebellion, a proposal condemned by civil liberties groups. Human rights groups also criticized plans for a British Bill of Rights to replace current rights laws based on the European Convention on Human Rights.