Under normal circumstances the House rises around this time of the year for very practical reasons: to make way for the beginning of the new session and the state opening of parliament. But last year the government announced plans to abolish the event this year by switching it from the traditional autumn date to the spring, meaning it is now very likely to take place on the eve of next May’s crucial elections. At business questions I asked the Leader of the House to confirm the precise timing, suggesting that he would not want to put her majesty in a position where the state opening ceremony runs up against election purdah. Our head of state should under no circumstances be used as a pre-election stunt for the government, especially in her diamond jubilee year, as I pointed out in the chamber on Thursday. I very obviously didn’t get any reassurances from the government on that point.
I also questioned whether it is right for parliament to be having a break during the biggest economic crisis in our lifetime.
So now we face a hole where the Queen’s speech should have been. But what if it were taking place next week? The government would have to start by admitting that they are going to have to revise their economic growth forecasts down for the fourth time in only 18 months as growth stalls and unemployment and inflation soar.
They could use it as an opportunity to abandon their disastrous top down reorganisation of our NHS and get to grips with the fiasco engulfing Britain’s border controls. And if the chancellor had any sense, he would swallow his pride (an almost impossible task I know) and unveil a Plan B to rescue our stagnating economy. They could even put into effect our five-point plan for jobs and growth!
Somehow I don’t think they are going to be following my advice.
Events outside of parliament have dominated this week. The UK Border Agency fiasco is yet another scandal that has quickly engulfed the government after it emerged that vital immigration checks at airports and ports were secretly suspended over the summer. After first attempting to distance herself from the issue, it came out that the home secretary’s own office authorised a lifting of anti-terror checks on travellers with EU passports. Yvette Cooper has been superb in leading Labour’s response while Theresa May suddenly looks extremely vulnerable.
James Murdoch was back before the culture, media and sport select committee again this week too. But apparently no one told him anything about the phone hacking or dubious covert surveillance going on at an industrial scale in the company he led. In the commons chamber I raised concerns about a member of the committee being subject to this treatment by News International. We also know from the comments of a former committee member that they had been reluctant to pursue the phone hacking scandal because they feared they would be targeted in this way too. I asked the Leader of the House for an urgent debate on select committee powers given these disturbing developments which touch directly on the right of MPs to pursue the truth without fear of intimidation.
Angela Eagle is MP for Wallasey and shadow leader of the Commons