UK Election 2010: Queen’s Speech

by Razi Rahman, Deputy Managing Director APCO Worldwide London

Full document downloadable here.

Having published the Coalition’s programme for government last week, the new Liberal Conservative Government today set out its legislative priorities for the forthcoming parliamentary session in the Queen’s Speech. The first Queen’s Speech of any new government is always its most important, as it seeks to make a strong start, pass priority legislation and frame the political debate. Under the strapline of “freedom, fairness and responsibility,” today’s Queen’s Speech contained 22 Bills which the Government intends to introduce over the next 18 months.

Yet after the honeymoon comes the reality. In contrast to the harmony on display in the No10 rose garden, today’s Queen’s Speech debate took place in a House of Commons chamber that displayed flashes of party tensions – proposer Peter Lilley MP disparaged the Liberal Democrats, and while seconder Don Foster MP for the Liberal Democrats took a more measured approach, his fellow MPs looked uncomfortable, particularly when the Prime Minister spoke.

The Prime Minister said that he hoped that the Academies Bill, clearly the flagship Bill, would be passed before the summer. Academy Schools, first introduced by Labour under Tony Blair in 2000, receive private sponsorship and are semi-independent of local authority control. This proposed legislation would enable more schools, and for the first time primary schools, to become Academies, with all schools judged “outstanding” by Ofsted being pre-approved. Separately, an Education and Children’s Bill will introduce a “pupil premium” so that more money follows the poorest pupil.

There is every indication that there will be a contrasting approach in tone and content in the education and health departments – radical reform under Michael Gove MP, quiet consolidation under Andrew Lansley MP. The purpose of the Health Bill is to strengthen the voice of patients and role of health-care professionals in NHS decision making and establish an independent NHS Board. Although it will not require primary legislation, the Government will create a new public health service, whose funding will be protected through ring-fenced budgets.

It will be the Liberal Democrat MPs who will find most to cheer in the Parliamentary Reform Bill, providing for fixed-term Parliaments, a right of recall in respect of MPs and a reduction of the size of the House of Commons. It is this legislation which provides for a referendum on electoral reform, offering a choice between the existing First Past The Post System and the Alternative Vote. Yet it is not without controversy, particularly the proposal to require 55 percent of MPs to vote for a dissolution Parliament.

The Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill restricts the scope of the DNA database, regulates CCTV and places the restrictions on the storage of Internet and e-mail records. Although much of the content will be popular with civil liberties campaigners, there may be some public opposition as the detail of the legislation and implications for tackling crime and protecting local communities is discussed.

An Energy Security and Green Economy Bill raises more questions than it answers. The only certainty at this stage appears to be that it will contain provisions to promote energy efficiency in homes and businesses. No10 this afternoon indicated that the legislation may also cover such matters such as the regulation of emissions from coal-fired power stations, reform of energy markets and the creation of a Green Investment Bank. This uncertainty is a clear indication that much work still needs to be undertaken between the Coalition partners to develop a comprehensive and coherent energy policy. This is even more so in the case of nuclear energy, with post-election statements on public subsidies and a complex process for resolving the policy causing the nuclear industry concern.

The Decentralisation and Localism Bill abolishes the Infrastructure Planning Commission and returns decision-making powers on housing and planning to local councils. Although the government promises a fast-track process for “major infrastructure projects,” it remains to be seen how this will work in practice.

A Financial Services Regulation Bill will put control and oversight of regulation back in the hands of the Bank of England. Yet it is clear that the detail and scope of the legislation is yet to be finalised. Significantly it is the Treasury, rather than Vince Cable MP’s Department for Business, that is in the lead. The Postal Services Bill will enable the Government to sell a minority of shares to third parties, a move which could spark controversy and opposition from trade unions.

Yet the Gracious Speech also highlighted the fact that this government will not solely, or even mainly, be judged by the legislation it introduces, but by the way in which it tackles the budget deficit. At the start of the speech the Queen said, “The first priority is to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth.” The first steps to tackle the deficit were taken yesterday, as George Osborne MP, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and David Laws MP, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, announced £6.2 billion of spending cuts in a press conference held at the Treasury. The Chancellor said that £500 million of the savings would be re-invested in further education, apprenticeships and social housing.

The decision to make an announcement of this importance at the Treasury rather than to Parliament invited some criticism. Although analysts were expecting that savings of £6 billion would be identified by the new Government, the nature of the cuts went further than Ministers had previously indicated. Much of the detail only started to emerge from departments after Osborne and Laws made their initial statement.

During the election campaign, the Conservative Party indicated that such sums would be comprised of “efficiency savings” identified by advisers Sir Peter Gershon and Dr Martin Read. However, it now appears that the Conservatives had overestimated the savings that could come from IT projects and a freeze in civil service recruitment. As a result, the Government has made spending cuts that will be far from painless – 10,000 University places will be scrapped, the Child Trust Fund will be phased out and one-to-one tuition for children who fall behind in numeracy and literacy will end. Further cuts will have to be made by local government with a reduced grant to Local Authorities and in as yet unspecified “lower priorities” in departmental spend.

Yet these spending cuts are only the start. The real extent of the scale of action needed to tackle the deficit will only emerge during the emergency budget on 22 June and in the Spending Review to take place in the autumn. The biggest issue facing the new Government – tackling the deficit –received remarkably little scrutiny during the election campaign, something all of the political parties can share some responsibility for. The fate of the Government may lie less in what legislation it passes over the next few years and more in how it deals with this sensitive issue and the response of the public to it. MPs from all sides know that the stakes for party and country have rarely been higher.