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| Queen's speech: a fresh start that won't upset the backbenchers | Queen's speech: a fresh start that won't upset the backbenchers |
| (5 months later) | |
| Each year, the Queen's speech, often delivered in the wake of a local election drubbing for the governing party, is presented as the moment of a political fightback. It is the start of a new political year, and the government's instinct is to claim this as a turning point. Downing Street's aim is to impose coherence on what is necessarily an arbitrary collection of bills that have fought their way to the front of the legislative queue. | Each year, the Queen's speech, often delivered in the wake of a local election drubbing for the governing party, is presented as the moment of a political fightback. It is the start of a new political year, and the government's instinct is to claim this as a turning point. Downing Street's aim is to impose coherence on what is necessarily an arbitrary collection of bills that have fought their way to the front of the legislative queue. |
| But two things are notable about Wednesday's Queen's speech. Cameron has jettisoned anything that might worsen his relationship with his backbenchers – plain cigarette packaging, a draconian "snooper's charter", a recall bill setting out the circumstances in which the electorate can demand miscreant MPs be recalled, and guarantees on overseas aid spending. Secondly, the next year in Westminster, with the exception of one bill on immigration, will not be shaped by this mass of legislation. The real political battles lie in the June spending review, the pace of the UK and global economic recovery, and possibly the state of the EU debate in the Tory party. | But two things are notable about Wednesday's Queen's speech. Cameron has jettisoned anything that might worsen his relationship with his backbenchers – plain cigarette packaging, a draconian "snooper's charter", a recall bill setting out the circumstances in which the electorate can demand miscreant MPs be recalled, and guarantees on overseas aid spending. Secondly, the next year in Westminster, with the exception of one bill on immigration, will not be shaped by this mass of legislation. The real political battles lie in the June spending review, the pace of the UK and global economic recovery, and possibly the state of the EU debate in the Tory party. |
| That is not to dismiss the importance of this Queen's speech. The gaze of a government entering its fourth year is normally solely on the coming election. Its legislative programme in what is normally its final year reads largely like a party manifesto. But partly due to the existence of a fixed five-year parliament, and the fact of the coalition, this Queen's speech does contain at least two landmark reforms – on social care and the future of pensions – that will be remembered by generations to come. | That is not to dismiss the importance of this Queen's speech. The gaze of a government entering its fourth year is normally solely on the coming election. Its legislative programme in what is normally its final year reads largely like a party manifesto. But partly due to the existence of a fixed five-year parliament, and the fact of the coalition, this Queen's speech does contain at least two landmark reforms – on social care and the future of pensions – that will be remembered by generations to come. |
| True, there is the usual rag-bag that Whitehall spews out. But with the banking, social care and pensions reforms, the government shows a coalition still working together to make big reform happen. | True, there is the usual rag-bag that Whitehall spews out. But with the banking, social care and pensions reforms, the government shows a coalition still working together to make big reform happen. |
| Social care This is the coalition blueprint for the future of social care for older and disabled people and their carers. It will introduce a national eligibility threshold ensuring that the social care system will be based on need rather than postcode. The elderly will also keep their care packages if they move – a constant worry in the current regime where different councils have different assessments of need. Significantly, it will introduce a cap on how much people have to contribute towards their care costs – expected to be about £72,000. The legislation will also have to define the boundary between free NHS care and means-tested adult social care. | Social care This is the coalition blueprint for the future of social care for older and disabled people and their carers. It will introduce a national eligibility threshold ensuring that the social care system will be based on need rather than postcode. The elderly will also keep their care packages if they move – a constant worry in the current regime where different councils have different assessments of need. Significantly, it will introduce a cap on how much people have to contribute towards their care costs – expected to be about £72,000. The legislation will also have to define the boundary between free NHS care and means-tested adult social care. |
| Pensions The government's plans to bring in a flat-rate state pension in April 2016 will scrap the existing basic and second state pension, and replace them with a single tier pension worth up to £144 a week in today's terms. The pension will be earned by individuals, and its introduction will put an end to the married person's pension, and a rule which has allowed spouses of UK pensioners to claim up to £66 a week even if they have never paid any national insurance contributions. | Pensions The government's plans to bring in a flat-rate state pension in April 2016 will scrap the existing basic and second state pension, and replace them with a single tier pension worth up to £144 a week in today's terms. The pension will be earned by individuals, and its introduction will put an end to the married person's pension, and a rule which has allowed spouses of UK pensioners to claim up to £66 a week even if they have never paid any national insurance contributions. |
| Immigration New curbs on access for recent migrants to public services, including housing, and a much-trailed move to step up the deportation of foreign criminals form the centrepiece of Theresa May's flagship immigration legislation to counter the Ukip surge. Ministers are still considering whether it is possible to introduce wide-ranging curbs on access to benefits and public services for new migrants without a legal clash with the EU's freedom of movement directive. The measures agreed so far include a duty on all landlords to make sure tenants are in the UK legally. Also on the table is a possible two- to five-year residency test for new council and housing association tenants. May is also to enshrine in primary legislation existing guidance to judges that article 8 of the human rights convention on right to family life is not absolute and should not be used to block the deportation of foreign national criminals where this in the national interest. In 2011 a total of 185 out of the 5,000 foreign prisoners who were sent home avoided deportation on article 8 grounds. | Immigration New curbs on access for recent migrants to public services, including housing, and a much-trailed move to step up the deportation of foreign criminals form the centrepiece of Theresa May's flagship immigration legislation to counter the Ukip surge. Ministers are still considering whether it is possible to introduce wide-ranging curbs on access to benefits and public services for new migrants without a legal clash with the EU's freedom of movement directive. The measures agreed so far include a duty on all landlords to make sure tenants are in the UK legally. Also on the table is a possible two- to five-year residency test for new council and housing association tenants. May is also to enshrine in primary legislation existing guidance to judges that article 8 of the human rights convention on right to family life is not absolute and should not be used to block the deportation of foreign national criminals where this in the national interest. In 2011 a total of 185 out of the 5,000 foreign prisoners who were sent home avoided deportation on article 8 grounds. |
| Crime and antisocial behaviour This jamboree bill will include a wide range of Home Office measures from giving victims of antisocial behaviour a say in the punishment of the offender to introducing a new crackdown on dangerous dogs that attack people, such as postal workers, on their owner's property. The Communication Workers Union says postmen and -women, as well as telecoms engineers, suffer around 5,000 dog attacks each year, with 70% of these taking place on private property where the law doesn't yet apply in England and Wales. | Crime and antisocial behaviour This jamboree bill will include a wide range of Home Office measures from giving victims of antisocial behaviour a say in the punishment of the offender to introducing a new crackdown on dangerous dogs that attack people, such as postal workers, on their owner's property. The Communication Workers Union says postmen and -women, as well as telecoms engineers, suffer around 5,000 dog attacks each year, with 70% of these taking place on private property where the law doesn't yet apply in England and Wales. |
| The bill was expected to include the major measures to track internet and mobile phone use and to introduce a minimum price for alcohol but both have been shelved as a result of rows in the coalition. The result is that the Home Office will use the legislation to enact a series of minor measures it has been consulting on, including changes to police pay review arrangements and to crime data. One potential flashpoint is the possible inclusion of powers to make police officers redundant but a decision has been postponed on this issue. | The bill was expected to include the major measures to track internet and mobile phone use and to introduce a minimum price for alcohol but both have been shelved as a result of rows in the coalition. The result is that the Home Office will use the legislation to enact a series of minor measures it has been consulting on, including changes to police pay review arrangements and to crime data. One potential flashpoint is the possible inclusion of powers to make police officers redundant but a decision has been postponed on this issue. |
| Offender rehabilitation The next stage of the "rehabilitation revolution" will open up 70% of probation work to privatisation, with the public probation service restricted to supervising high-risk offenders and public protection work. The probation service in England and Wales is to be divided into 16 regional contract areas with bids invited from private and voluntary sector providers to supervise 140,000 medium- and low-risk offenders. The contracts will be on a "payment by results" basis with a much greater emphasis on the use of ex-offenders as mentors. | Offender rehabilitation The next stage of the "rehabilitation revolution" will open up 70% of probation work to privatisation, with the public probation service restricted to supervising high-risk offenders and public protection work. The probation service in England and Wales is to be divided into 16 regional contract areas with bids invited from private and voluntary sector providers to supervise 140,000 medium- and low-risk offenders. The contracts will be on a "payment by results" basis with a much greater emphasis on the use of ex-offenders as mentors. |
| HS2 It will be full steam ahead for the £33bn high-speed rail project, with two bills expected. A hybrid bill will seek planning approval for the first leg of the line from London to Birmingham, while a paving bill will fund preparatory work for the two onward branches to Leeds and Manchester. Transport minister Simon Burns has promised that the latter will be a short money bill, but both proposals are likely to be fiercely contested and will reopen the debate about whether this controversial project represents value for money in an age of slashed budgets. | HS2 It will be full steam ahead for the £33bn high-speed rail project, with two bills expected. A hybrid bill will seek planning approval for the first leg of the line from London to Birmingham, while a paving bill will fund preparatory work for the two onward branches to Leeds and Manchester. Transport minister Simon Burns has promised that the latter will be a short money bill, but both proposals are likely to be fiercely contested and will reopen the debate about whether this controversial project represents value for money in an age of slashed budgets. |
| Consumer rights The bill aims to simplify and clarify existing consumer rights by pulling together eight separate pieces of legislation, and updates the law to take account of "the modern marketplace" – for example, downloading music and films online. The bill covers goods, services, digital content and unfair contract terms as well as bringing together 60 pieces of legislation which currently give trading standards officers the ability to investigate breaches of consumer law. It has been described as the first major review of consumer law since the 1970s. | Consumer rights The bill aims to simplify and clarify existing consumer rights by pulling together eight separate pieces of legislation, and updates the law to take account of "the modern marketplace" – for example, downloading music and films online. The bill covers goods, services, digital content and unfair contract terms as well as bringing together 60 pieces of legislation which currently give trading standards officers the ability to investigate breaches of consumer law. It has been described as the first major review of consumer law since the 1970s. |
| Banking reform This will implement the recommendations made by Sir John Vickers' independent commission on banking and is intended to bring in major changes to the way banks are structured in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Banks' retail operations will be ringfenced from investment banking operations and the government gets powers to break up firms which do not do this correctly. Depositors will be better protected, with those covered by the financial services compensation scheme becoming preferential creditors if a bank goes bust. | Banking reform This will implement the recommendations made by Sir John Vickers' independent commission on banking and is intended to bring in major changes to the way banks are structured in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Banks' retail operations will be ringfenced from investment banking operations and the government gets powers to break up firms which do not do this correctly. Depositors will be better protected, with those covered by the financial services compensation scheme becoming preferential creditors if a bank goes bust. |
| Local audit bill Disbands the Audit Commission and transfers its inhouse local authority auditing practice to the private sector, allowing local bodies to appoint their own auditors. | Local audit bill Disbands the Audit Commission and transfers its inhouse local authority auditing practice to the private sector, allowing local bodies to appoint their own auditors. |
| Others Four bills – energy, gay marriage, banking reform and children and families, covering adoption – were introduced in the previous parliamentary session and will be carried over. They have yet to have a second reading in the Lords. Also: a mesothelioma bill covering the issue of missing employers' liability insurance; a national insurance contributions bill cutting the cost of recruiting new employees for small employers, taking 450,000 out of paying employer NICs altogether; a deregulation bill reducing unnecessary red tape; and a co-operatives bill encouraging more mutuals. | Others Four bills – energy, gay marriage, banking reform and children and families, covering adoption – were introduced in the previous parliamentary session and will be carried over. They have yet to have a second reading in the Lords. Also: a mesothelioma bill covering the issue of missing employers' liability insurance; a national insurance contributions bill cutting the cost of recruiting new employees for small employers, taking 450,000 out of paying employer NICs altogether; a deregulation bill reducing unnecessary red tape; and a co-operatives bill encouraging more mutuals. |
| Europe? Ministers will wait to see if a eurosceptic backbencher wins a prime spot in the ballot for private members' bills and uses it to advance an EU membership referendum bill. Alternatively, the Foreign Office could bring forward a draft bill, but nothing at this stage seems likely to reach the statute book this side of an election. | Europe? Ministers will wait to see if a eurosceptic backbencher wins a prime spot in the ballot for private members' bills and uses it to advance an EU membership referendum bill. Alternatively, the Foreign Office could bring forward a draft bill, but nothing at this stage seems likely to reach the statute book this side of an election. |
| Additional reporting: Randeep Ramesh, Hilary Osborne, Alan Travis, Jennifer Rankin, Rupert Jones and Jill Treanor | Additional reporting: Randeep Ramesh, Hilary Osborne, Alan Travis, Jennifer Rankin, Rupert Jones and Jill Treanor |
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