Boris Johnson has unveiled Conservative plans to press on with various measures, including the controversial voter ID policy, in a Queen’s Speech which outlined 26 potential laws in total.
Announcing the list of measures, the monarch began by saying the overall aim was to “level up opportunities” across the UK.
Among them is 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; and the return of the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, which sparked demonstrations when it was last before parliament.
The speech also made reference to “bringing forward proposals” to fix the UK’s troubled social care system but, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not provide any concrete details.
It comes as a Commons committee revealed the extent to which David Cameron bombarded government ministers with at least 25 texts, 12 WhatsApp messages, 11 calls and eight emails over a four-month period, telling them that the failure to provide financial support to Greensill Capital was “nuts” and “bonkers”.
Financier Lex Greensill is scheduled to give evidence before the House of Commons Treasury Committee this afternoon, while former PM Mr Cameron will be grilled on Thursday.
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No 10 to tackle foie gras in animal standards bid
Wave farewell to foie gras. The government is to consider ways to limit the sale of foie gras as part of measures to improve animal welfare, ministers have announced.
A new animal welfare bill, unveiled in the Queen’s Speech, will also look at a crackdown on the trade of the delicacy, which involves the force feeding of birds and has been condemned as cruel.
The artificially fattened liver of a duck or a goose, foie gras is made using a technique called gavage, force-feeding the birds twice or three times daily, often via a tube down their throats.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Starmer welcomes Hartlepool’s new Tory MP
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed Hartlepool’s newly elected MP, Jill Mortimer, after his own party lost the constituency for the first time in 62 years.
Welcoming Ms Mortimer to Westminster, Sir Keir said that he “hopes she doesn’t mind me saying that I hope [her post] won’t last too long”. Safe to say, he received some laughs from his own benches.
The loss of Hartlepool cut deep for the Labour Party, and kickstarted a disastrous performance nationally at last week’s elections.
Ms Mortimer won the by-election with more than half of the votes cast (51.88 per cent) and a swing from Labour of almost 16 per cent, beating Dr Paul Williams, by 6,940 votes.
Government lacks ‘big ideas,’ says ex-Johnson adviser
Tim Montgomerie, who acted as a special adviser to Boris Johnson on social justice issues in 2019, has hit out at the government for lacking imagination follow the Queen’s Speech.
Grenfell survivors ‘betrayed’ by Queen’s Speech lack of commitment
Grenfell United, a group of survivors and bereaved relatives from the Grenfell Tower fire, has accused the government of “betrayal” and said the Queen’s Speech failed to advance proposals in the government’s Social Housing White Paper.
“The Social Housing White Paper’s exclusion from the #QueensSpeech shows govt’s disinterest in our housing crisis,” the group tweeted. “Their priorities are for landlords and developers, evidenced by the inclusion of the Planning Bill. This is a betrayal of the legacy we are so committed to achieve.”
In her speech, which is written by No 10 but delivered by the monarch, the Queen promised new laws to prevent another Grenfell-style tragedy and to boost housebuilding.
She said: “My government will help more people to own their own home whilst enhancing the rights of those who rent.
“Laws to modernise the planning system, so that more homes can be built, will be brought forward, along with measures to end the practice of ground rents for new leasehold properties.”
“My ministers will establish in law a new building safety regulator to ensure that the tragedies of the past are never repeated.”
Cameron ‘bombarded ministers with messages about Greensill’
David Cameron bombarded government ministers and officials with scores of texts, calls and emails over a four-month period, it has been revealed.
The former prime minister told that the failure to provide financial support to Greensill Capital was “nuts” and “bonkers”, according to correspondence released by the House of Commons Treasury Committee today.
Lex Greensill is scheduled to be formally questioned by that committee this afternoon.
Follow our political editorAndrew Woodcock’s breaking report:
John McDonnell: ‘Tory priority is voter suppression’
Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has shared his reaction to today’s Queen’s Speech.
On adult social care, Mr McDonnell is referring to a claim made by Boris Johnson in his first speech as prime minister that he had a “clear plan” prepared for the support system, which has long been thought to be in need of upheaval. Mr Johnson did later admit he had no such plan. Government said today “proposals on social care reform will be brought forward” but offered no detailed plan.
Mr McDonnell highlights one of the concrete pledges made today – a requirement for voters to provide photo ID before casting their ballot – to compare with the absence of a firm plan to tackle the longstanding issue of social care.
Boris Johnson to relax ‘burdensome’ EU state aid rules in green light for new subsidies
Another announcement from the Queen’s Speech here: State aid rules inherites from the EU will be relaxed, with the government plannning to boost subsidies to some companies.
A new Subsidy Control Bill will be introduced, setting a new framework for how funding is handed out to firms and projects.
Our Policy Correspondent Jon Stone has the details:
Keir Starmer’s closest parliamentary aide resigns
Sir Keir Starmer’s parliamentary private secretary has resigned, adding to the Labour leader’s woes after a turbulent few days.
Carolyn Harris, who was supposed to act as a go-between for the leader and the party’s MPs, has left after serving in the role since Sir Keir’s election last year.
Our Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin is following this:
Speech’s asylum plans attacked as ‘cruel and unfair’
Immigration reforms labelled “cruel and unfair” include proposals to refuse any asylum seeker who has passed through a safe country before reaching the UK the right to refugee status in Britain, according to measures announced in the Queen’s Speech.
It confirms ministers’ intention to implement their New Plan for Immigration, unveiled in March, under which refugees which who arrive in the UK via unauthorised routes will be denied protection and instead regularly reassessed for removal to safe countries they passed through, reports our social affairs correspondent May Bulman.
‘That it?’: Green’s Lucas disappointed with climate actions in speech
Green MP Caroline Lucas has responded to the government’s climate crisis actions, unveiled in the Queen’s Speech.
In a statement she said: “In his vital decade for climate action, we’ve have heard nothing from the government that matches the scale of the challenge we face. People have had enough of rhetoric and empty pledges. They want to see a plan. There isn’t one.”
Ms Lucas said Boris Johnson’s “talk about building a strong recovery from Covid” would only work if it is a “green recovery, focused on decarbonisation, creating sustainable businesses and jobs and accelerating the path to net zero”.
In her speech, Queen Elizabeth said the UK was committed to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and “legislation will set binding environmental targets”.
But the Greens were disappointed with the lack of detail this provides. “The warnings are coming thick and fast that we have to change our approach, moving to an economic model which prioritises wellbeing and the health of people and planet,” Ms Lucas said.
