UK faces 'significant long-term challenges' because of Covid and Ukraine war, says king
King Charles is delivering the speech now.
He says:
My lords and members of the House of Commons
It is mindful of the legacy of service and devotion to this country set by My beloved Mother, The late Queen, that I deliver this, the first King’s Speech in over 70 years. The impact of Covid and the war in Ukraine have created significant long-term challenges for the United Kingdom. That is why my government’s priority is to make the difficult but necessary long-term decisions to change this country for the better.
Analysis: This is rather grim opening, highlighting the “signficant long-term challenges” for the UK created by Covid and the Ukraine war. (Most economists would add Brexit to the list, but the government still claims to believe it has been a success, with Rishi Sunak telling the Tory conference Brexit has been good for growth.) The focus on long-term decision making is undermined by the claims made by many commentators that the speech is overly focused on measures that might offer a short-term political advantage.
Stonewall has criticised the government for not including the long-promised ban on conversion practicises in the king’s speech. (See 2.04pm.) Cat Dixon, Stonewall’s chair, said:We are deeply disappointed to see that legislation to ban conversion practices has been dropped from the king’s speech. This was the final opportunity for this UK government to protect LGBTQ+ people from the abuse and torture that has afflicted generations of LGBTQ+ people in the UK and which continues to this day.
Protections were first promised in Prime Minister Theresa May, and by every subsequent prime minister including Rishi Sunak. We saw legislation pledged in both the 2021 and 2022 queen’s speech, so the abandonment of promised laws now is an abject failure to protect for the most vulnerable members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Seven measures left out of king's speech
Often what’s most interesting about a king or queen’s speech is what’s missing. When a measure is expected, and then omitted, that is often evidence of a rethink, or a U-turn, and it can lead to accusations of betrayal. It might also be a sign that the government was never that keen on the idea in the first place.
Here are some of the most prominent items “missing” from today’s speech.
1) A mental health bill. Campaigners are angry that long-promised legislation to modernise the Mental Health Act has not been included. (See 12.32pm and 12.37pm.)
2) Measures to counter what Rishi Sunak called “the war on motorists”. At the Tory conference Sunak claimed motorists are being penalised, and he promised measures to limit the rollout of 20mph speed limits and low emissions zone. It was reported that the plans would be in the king’s speech. But there are no bills covering this in the speech and, even though limiting the powers of councils in relation to 20mph zones might not need primary legislation, there is no mention of this issue at all in the 70-page briefing document. There is no bill on A-level reform either, but that did not stop the king mentioning that as a priority in his address. (See 11.39am.)
3) A ban on conversion practices. The Tories first promised a ban on conversion practices under Theresa May. Last month there were reports that a bill on this would be included in the king’s speech, but that provoked an angry backlash from socially conservative MPs, and the idea was abandoned. Jayne Ozanne, founder of the Ban Conversion Therapy Coalition, told PinkNews:I am angered but sadly not surprised by the government’s decision to drop a ban on conversion practices. The prime minister has shown a callous disregard for LGBT+ lives of late and has chosen to prioritise listening to perpetrators over that of engaging with victims of abuse.
4) Nutrient neutrality. At the Tory conference Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, said the government would legislate “at the first available opportunity” to reverse the defeat in the House of Lords when his plan to axe a river pollution law (nutrient neutrality, to use the jargon) deemed to be holding back housebuilding was defeated by peers. But there was no reference in the speech to the government revisiting this.
5) The Conservative manifesto in 2019 promised a ban on imports from trophy hunting. Since Boris Johnson was replaced, animal rights has been less of a No 10 priority, and in the last parliament it was left to Henry Smith, a Tory MP, to try to get backbench legislation for a ban onto the statute book. It was blocked in the Lords. Today Claire Bass, senior director of campaigns and public affairs at Humane Society International/UK, said:It’s a bad day for democracy when the whims and fancies of a handful of pro-hunting Lords hold government hostage and stop it from delivering its promised manifesto commitment to ban hunting trophy imports. We’ve had enough of this government promising a lot and delivering very little to stop animal cruelty.
6) The ban on charities distributing tents to the homeless. There was no mention of this in the speech, although a close reading of the FT on Saturday (see 9.04am) suggests this was never a strong contender for inclusion in the first place.
7) Audit reform bill. The last queen’s speech, in May 2022, promised a draft audit reform bill to set up an auditing regulator. Normally a draft bill one year is followed by a real bill the following year. But the draft audit reform bill never appeared, and there was no reference to legislation today. Anne Kiem, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors, which has produced a briefing on this, said:It is deeply disappointing that the audit reform bill has been excluded from King Charles’s speech. This legislation is urgently needed to put the audit regulator on a statutory footing with the legal powers it needs to hold company directors and audit firms to account when things go wrong.
Corporate collapses linked to audit and governance weaknesses, such as BHS, Carillion, Patisserie Valerie, Thomas Cook and Wilko, have already cost tens of thousands of jobs, led to hundreds of retail store closures, hurt investors, cost people their pensions and impacted suppliers.
This legislation was promised in the last queen’s speech, so we had reasonably expected it to already have been delivered. That it won’t even be delivered in this parliamentary session is astonishing. We need to safeguard our future economic prosperity by protecting jobs, growth and investors.
And here is more criticism of the oil and gas licensing plans in the speech (see 1.15pm) from Greenpeace and the IPPR thinktank.
Rebecca Newsom, head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said:All of the world’s superpowers are investing heavily in green infrastructure, renewables and the clean tech of the future because they know it will generate economic growth, jobs and ultimately help to stop the planet from burning. Instead, our prime minister has decided to line up a licencing bonanza for his pals in the oil and gas industry that the government has already admitted won’t lower bills – and won’t deliver energy security either. Together, with his failure to commit to ratify the Global Oceans Treaty, Rishi Sunak’s divisive electioneering is a complete and utter failure of leadership.
And this is from Josh Emden, a senior research fellow at the IPPR thinktank.By far the best way to improve energy security, cut bills and support workers is investing more time and money in renewables. Our research shows new oil and gas fields would only cut oil and gas imports by 4 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. The alternative of no new fields and faster renewable rollout would cut them by 12 per cent and 17 per cent.
This is just further confirmation of what public polling is already showing: that the government is spending too much time distracted by the false promise of oil and gas and not enough time rolling out renewables more quickly that could actually make a difference to the cost of living.
