As an MP, I never enjoyed the Queen’s speech. I can now confess that I missed two out of three held while I was a backbencher – once due to having a very new baby and once just because I couldn’t face the pomp and manifestation of the most anachronistic elements of parliament. Even as a minister, I realised that the Queen’s speech is much more about a symbolic event than it is about a significant political moment.
There has been much speculation about whether today’s Queen’s Speech is a response to local election results and the UKIP surge. It isn’t directly, as the preparation has been going on for some time now. The BBC’s Nick Robinson has corrected himself in suggesting that the speech is written on vellum long in advance – it’s now paper, but nevertheless the bills to be included were decided several weeks ago. There is a tortuous process involving ministers bidding for bills to be included; cross-government discussion which tends to focus as much on whether the policy is ready as on whether they fit with some over-arching strategy. There is then an attempt to shoehorn a narrative around the programme which in my experience was rarely successful and never lasted beyond the ‘spin’ of the day itself.
The Queen’s speech is not the government’s programme – it’s its legislation. Just as important, if not more in the current economic circumstances are the budget, the spending review and wider economic policy, foreign affairs – in particular our relationship with the European Union – and failures in delivery and U-turns on previously announced or enacted legislation.
So the failure to legislate to meet the pledge on levels of foreign aid spending may tell us that other ringfences could be under threat in the spending review. The shelving of legislation on minimum alcohol pricing and cigarette packaging shows us that public health is losing out to lobbying and deregulation. While the draft – and widely criticised – communications data bill is not included, I am pleased that the government is still planning to work on ways to ensure that police and security services have the means to intercept serious criminals and terrorist communications carried out through new methods such as social media.
Areas where there is a clear need for action, but where the argument will be in the detail and the ability of the government to deliver on the proposals announced today, include health and social care, consumer rights and pension reform. The test for these proposals will be whether this U-turn-prone government has done the right planning and political handling in advance.
The ‘story’ of the Queen’s speech was obviously meant to be the new immigration measures. While some of these build on Labour initiatives, this feels to me more like a chance to get ‘tough on immigration’ into the headlines rather than on really effective measures. The proposed measures on tackling illegal immigration will achieve little if they simply outsource enforcement activity from a depleted Border Agency to employers and landlords. Employers already face heavy fines if they knowingly employ illegal immigrants – the problem is enforcing this. As Shelter has pointed out today, private landlords have no formal relationship with the state, no requirement to register and no real enforcement of their contractual requirements. How will they be tracked, let alone monitored to ensure they’re checking immigration status?
The crime and antisocial behaviour measures have been announced as a strengthening of powers. I strongly support the principle of giving communities a greater voice in tackling ASB, but the community trigger power has not been successful in the pilots so far – and the downgrading of the ASBO sends a bad message about the significance of action to tackle ASB. As I argued last week, the cuts in neighbourhood policing and local authorities community safety work mean it is unlikely that the communities who most need to be protected from ASB will get the support they need.
Finally, Labour voices have pointed out that the speech fails to really address the issues of growth, jobs, economic security, housing and standards of living. These are the issues which will impact on people’s lives long after the tiaras and ermine have been put away – and they will be the basis on which this government and our opposition programme will be judged.
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Jacqui Smith is former home secretary, writes the Monday Politics column for Progress, and tweets @smithjj62
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