In the introduction to the speech, Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged patience, warning against “the snake oil charm of populism.”
The UK’s Labour Party has set out its plans for Britain in the official State Opening of Parliament, overseen by King Charles III.
In a speech written by government officials and delivered by King Charles III, the newly-installed government promised ‘national renewal’ and the easing of the country’s cost-of-living crisis.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer placed economic growth and the stabilisation of the UK’s public finances at the centre of his legislative agenda, but warned change would require “determined, patient work and serious solutions”.
He also says he won’t raise personal taxes and insists change must be bound by “unbreakable fiscal rules.”
“My government will seek a new partnership with both business and working people and help the country move on from the recent cost of living challenges by prioritising wealth creation for all communities,” the king said in a speech to hundreds of lawmakers from both houses of parliament in the House of Lords.
Starmer made it clear during his campaign that he aims to be both pro-worker and pro-business, in favour of vast new construction projects and protective of the environment.
What was included in the King’s Speech?
The speech included 40 bills, which ranged from housebuilding to nationalising Britain’s railways and decarbonising the nation’s power supply with a publicly-owned green energy firm, Great British Energy.
The government said it would “get Britain building,” setting up a National Wealth Fund and rewriting planning rules that stop new homes and infrastructure being built.
The government promised stronger protections for workers, with a ban on some “zero-hours” contracts and a higher minimum wage for many employees.
Also announced were protections for renters against shoddy housing, sudden eviction and landlords who won’t let them have a pet.
The government promised more power for local governments and better bus and railway services – keys to the “levelling up” of Britain’s London-centric economy that former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised but largely failed to deliver.
Though Starmer eschewed large-scale nationalization of industries, the government plans to take the delay-plagued train operators into public ownership.
The speech said the government “recognizes the urgency of the global climate challenge” — a change in tone from the Conservative government’s emphasis on oil and gas exploration. As well as increasing renewable energy, it pledged tougher penalties for water companies that dump sewage into rivers, lakes and seas.
It also included new measures to strengthen border security, creating a beefed-up Border Security Command with counter-terrorism powers to tackle people-smuggling gangs.
This follows Starmer’s decision to scrap the Conservative’s controversial plan to send people arriving in the UK across the English Channel on a one-way trip to Rwanda.
Recognising the persistent debate over reformation of the House of Lords, the government said it would remove the “outdated and indefensible” presence of hereditary nobles, though there was no mention of Labour’s promise to set a Lords retirement age of 80.
There also was no mention of its pledge to lower the voting age from 18 to 16, though the government still plans to do it before the next election.
Economic measures included tighter rules governing corporations and a law to ensure all government budgets get advance independent scrutiny.
