Queen’s Speech: Johnson readies new legislative agenda after bruising local elections
Boris Johnson will look to breathe new life into his flagging government tomorrow as he sets out a fresh legislative agenda for the next session of parliament in the Queen’s speech.
Johnson, who was dealt a bruising blow as the Tories lost nearly 500 seats in local elections last week, is expected to deliver a swathe of new measures in a bid to boost the Conservatives electability amid a cost of living crunch and a spate of negative press over ‘partygate’.
What to expect
Among the areas expected to receive top billing in the speech are a levelling up and regeneration bill, and an education bill to “underpin the government’s ambition for every child to receive a world-class education”.
Johnson has also pledged to deliver a “super seven” of Brexit bills that will aim to slash red tape and “unnecessary barriers inherited from the EU”.
He told the Daily Express: “From data reform to gene-editing to financial services, these bills will allow us to thrive as a modern, dynamic and independent country, and this government is getting on with the job of delivering them.”
A financial services bill is expected to be among the swathe of new measures, designed to breathe new life into the sector and capitalise on emerging areas like cryptocurrencies, as well as scrap EU-era regulation which firms say has stifled investment and innovation.
The government has heightened its focus on energy security in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy prices, and ministers may use the Queen’s speech to deliver a bill focused on delivering on targets set out in the government’s energy security plan last month.
Industry body Energy UK said the sector needed the bill to free up investment and innovation.
“This country now has a raft of ambitious targets in place and the focus must now be on delivering these,” Dhara Vyas, Energy UK’s Director of Advocacy, said.
“We can only do this with a Bill that enables our sector to do what we need to do now and deliver on the full potential of the future energy system – so that progress isn’t being blocked by outdated legislation and regulations drawn up for a different time.”
Reset moment?
Dominic Raab, the deputy prime minister, played down the Queen’s Speech would be a “reset” moment for the government yesterday but said it would be talking about “reforming the agricultural sector” and innovation to create “cheaper, healthier food”.
“We’re going to be talking about areas where Britain has a real comparative advantage, tech, financial services,” he told Sky News.
The speech comes after a disastrous set of local elections which saw the Conservatives haemorrhage seats to the Liberal Democrats in its traditional southern heartlands, as well as losing flagship councils in London to the Labour party.
Losses in the South have sharpened calls from Tories to refocus the party on winning back the so-called ‘blue wall’, over fears that the party has over corrected to focus on winning seats in the North.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday, former cabinet minister Damian Green said Johnson’s “great achievement” was to extend the Conservative coalition to parts of the country that had not considered voting Conservative before, but he may have alienated southern voters in the process.
“Thursday’s results show that the Blue Wall of the south of England may have worryingly porous cement and equally needs attention,” he wrote.