Labour’s election victory in 2015 was as welcome as it was unexpected. As quickly as the election day sunshine gave way to the more typical early summer rainstorms, Labour’s euphoria at being given a modest (though workable) Commons majority was muted by the gravity of the problems facing the new government, and its wish to demonstrate its reforming credentials in the first Labour Queen’s speech for six years.

The recession and prolonged stagnation of the economy showed starkly how many workers can be left behind by economic change. Even in those areas of the country where a faltering recovery was evident, workers made redundant in the downturn after years of steady employment found it hard to adapt to the new demands of the industries which replaced those in which they had spent their entire working lives. ‘To make a reality of the phrase “protect the worker, not the job”’, intoned the 89-year-old Queen, her government would introduce an employment training credit bill. For each year in which an employee made national insurance contributions, they would become entitled to a week’s training, on a course of their choosing, funded jointly by the government and their employer up to a financial limit. These ‘training credits’ could be redeemed by the worker every four years, as a full working month’s training; or immediately upon becoming unemployed. The schedule of the bill allowed the secretary of state for business, innovation and skills to regulate those courses against which credits could be claimed.

The prolonged economic doldrums Britain had experienced left the new government with a legacy of failure to pay for: higher unemployment meant a bloated welfare bill, which the outgoing government’s blunt and crude attempts at welfare reform had failed to address at a time when the economy had been unable to provide enough jobs for the working population. The depth of the problem in certain communities cried out for a new approach. The Queen announced that the new government would meet the challenge with a welfare intensive care agency bill. The bill created a new agency, charged with providing intensive help to areas where more than 25 per cent of the working population are on unemployment or sickness benefit. The agency would establish an area board composed of local councillors, businesses and voluntary groups, and be granted planning powers similar to those enjoyed by National Parks Authorities and the power to draw up a Local Development Framework: the agency would support the board to plan and implement infrastructure projects, business hubs and training opportunities to drive up employment and reduce welfare dependency.

Nowhere were the divisions of the Tory years more evident than in housing: new building dried up as quickly as easy mortgages, putting home ownership out of the reach of many on middle incomes. To ease the pressure and provide a much-needed boost to the construction industry the government proposed a rent deposit fund bill: under its terms tenants could opt to pay a tax-deductible extra 10 per cent on their rent into a protected government fund, to provide savings which would be released to provide a deposit when applying for a mortgage to buy.

The new government was keenly aware of the embarrassment that its predecessors had faced when the ‘most open government in history’ had failed to meet the public’s desire for a greater voice in political decisions and more direct scrutiny of public expenditure. The open procurements bill sought to establish the new government’s open and democratic credentials: for any public procurement worth over £1bn to central government, or £50m to local government, the body awarding the contract had to make five per cent of the marks awarded in the bidding process contingent on a public vote, expressed through a simple website listing the open tenders and open to any voter (or local resident, for local government tenders). The bill required bidders to make available a publishable summary of their proposal which could be provided to the public through the same portal, to facilitate choice and stimulate debate.

Fiscal and administrative matters were not the government’s sole concern, though, and it wanted to make clear its commitment to the health and welfare of its citizens. The healthy living bill drove a package of measures to tackle Britain’s obesity crisis and create the healthiest generation ever. First, adults attending an annual health check-up could become eligible for a £100 credit if their BMI became at least one point closer to the ‘healthy’ band since their previous visit; second, workplaces, schools and colleges were obliged to provide free fruit to their employees and students; and third, membership fees for sports clubs and gyms became tax-deductible.

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David Green is a member of Progress and a former Labour party organiser

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Photo: UK Parliament