Already you will have read from the right wing press that the first solely Tory Queen’s Speech in nineteen years was a triumph or a tour de force or something else equally spectacular. The left wing press have meanwhile described it as the end of modern Britain. So I shall endeavour to clear the smoke.
I’ll start with the stuff we knew was coming. The EU referendum will happen before the end of 2017. On an interesting note, Philip Hammond popped up this morning saying that Britain will vote to leave the EU if there’s no treaty change. Given that Cameron is aiming for a no treaty change package in order to have the referendum early, this comment would have to count as rather unhelpful to his party leader. Either Hammond’s going off piste or he’s doing the worst ever version of bad cop to Cameron’s good. Given that Cameron tends to rewards bad behaviour with promotions, Hammond doesn’t really need to sweat it either way.
The big surprise was the trade union “opt in” doozy. You have to hand it to Cameron on this one: he’s really not messing about. As someone who feels that the trade unions have far too much power over the Labour Party, I’m all for it. Perhaps it will actually be beneficial to Labour in the long run, or at least beneficial to whatever the alternative to the Tories is in ten years time. The unions were right in there with their usual “the Tories are taking Britain back to the (insert random year here) with this” trope. Guys, no one’s listening, particularly given you explicitly want to take Britain back to the 1970s yourselves. A Labour source to the Telegraph described the whole thing as a “stitch up of the funding process”. If you don’t like it, why not advocate a state funding system then and be done with it?
We were expecting big public service cuts, particularly in welfare. However, the benefits ceiling has been lowered from £26k to £23k. That’s pretty much it on welfare reduction for now. It’s not exactly Rand Paul like in its state slashing, is it? Couple this with raising the free childcare amount for three and four year olds to thirty hours and it’s all starting to feel positively Scandinavian. How the hell Osborne is going to cut the deficit while pursuing this policy agenda having promised no income tax, VAT and NI increases for the next five years, will be interesting to watch.
There was some flat out Tory silliness, obviously. The ban on legal highs (so they’re not really legal anymore are they?), the whole snoopers malarkey being more North Korean that we even thought, a complete fudge on the constitutional stuff. But at least what would have been the crown jewel in this folly, the repeal of the Human Rights Act, has been shelved. Cameron knew it was both logistically as well as politically impossible. Hopefully this has been put on hold for good, but we’ll see.
I read the text of the queens speech and all the support papers yesterday. Completely unremarkable with respect that it reflects very closely the manifesto. Of course in another way that is remarkable. Cynical Moi? I think the opt in Union actually makes sense – morally we chastise the banks for charging fees which are taken through individuals inertia – this is the same proposition. I think pushing out the HRA makes sense for two reasons – its a difficult one to square and its not clear if concatenating that with the referendum time wise is a good or bad thing. Possible position of yes/No at the same time as a Bill which may be portrayed as weakening/strengthening your rights has to be thought through to avoid unintended consequences/perceptions. The beneifts cuts will be interesting in the detail. I like this because fundamentally its the platform they were elected on. If they want to snoop on my internet usage and watch me writing this shit – oh well LOL.
Whats really interesting is seeing if the current Tory leadership is truly one nation and is working for the overall betterment of the many. The balancing of the themes of Civil Liberties and societal protection – Stand on your own two feet – Genuine support for the deserving poor – opportunity creation – is going to be interesting to watch.
Regarding the attack on Trade Unions and Labour party funding, this may end up biting the Tories in the long run. In rejecting the consensual approach to funding reform, the Tories have opened the door for the next Labour government to bring in a low cap on individual donations – possibly as low as 5000 pounds.
And it may happen even sooner. With no majority in the Lords, the Tories may have to accept a few amendments (though admittedly not ones that are so drastic).
Am i being too cynical in reading between the lines and foreseeing a lot of mistakes that were made before by the tory government in respect to the charter of affordable housing for all? (right to buy housing association homes).
It was a sure fire way for the government to raise much needed funds at the time under Thatcher, bringing in the right to buy council homes under a nationally discounted ownership scheme.. (we are seeing this identical scheme rolled out now before our very eyes)… but not thought out comprehensively i dont think.
in the long term….it left a deficit of much needed affordable social housing for the future generations of new adults entering our society, to rent !! And as a result of the previous right to buy scheme that was brought in, it not only made a temporary fix to the economy……and it did not reduce the poverty gap…it increased it in the long term !!
I can appreciate the ideal of home ownership being an important and attractive goal in life….but alas for the majority of low income families, the bubble may burst all too loudly when interest rates rise (eventually they will) and they are out-priced in their mortgage repayments and have their homes repossessed. And as a result end up homeless !!
we are already seeing this happening on an unprecedented level today….the outfall of a short fix that resulted in a false and negative economy for the majority of households in the UK today.
Where are those people going to be rehoused in the future??
The only winners i can see in this promise are the bankers and the government and oh yes…..the fatcat greedy in society who already have an abundant property portfolio that they rent out to the needy and desperate in society at highly inflated rates………….
for those of us that do not have cash at hand to pay for the properties outright, and do not have jobs for life guarantees and family wealth to fall back onto if things go pear shaped and the economy shifts end up shafting us once again…….(am speaking for the majority of the population in the UK on this one !!) ….. we are damned if we do take government up on the offer (as it stands) and damned if we do not.
were there any clauses included in that gesture that also had plans laid and formulated to replace the sold rental housing numbers with new build homes exclusively available for social housing rental in the future at affordable prices for the future homeless families ??
i didn’t hear (or read about) that safety net being put in place. we ARE living in the housing crisis aftermath today of right to buy council house scheme that was brought in before !!
it just looks like the mistakes that got made previously on this issue….are being made yet again !!