Yesterday's Queen's speech revealed a Conservatives Government in complete disarray that they can't simply laugh off at the moment, leaving Theresa May utterly humiliated.
In written remarks prepared for the first day of Parliament, the troubled Prime Minister began trying to undo some of the key messages from the Conservatives' election campaign, saying that social care would be addressed and that every school should be fairly funded.
But speaking from the House of Lords throne, Her Majesty unveiled 27 Bills and draft bills in a very scaled down state opening, last witnessed in 1974 without horses, carriages and much of the other ceremonial highlights usually featured on the occasion, including the Sovereign's Escort.
The priorities for the government included Bills concerning Brexit, including the creation of a standalone UK customs regime and limiting immigration of EU nationals.In the Queen's Speech though there was no mention of any of her hated flagship policies: the Dementia Tax, scrapping hot lunches for infants, means-testing the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, ending the triple lock on pension rises, legalising fox hunting, creating more grammar schools. It can at least be celebrated that the Queen's Speech had no mention of Trump visiting Britain.
Jeremy Corbyn observed that the Tory general election manifesto has even disappeared from the Tory Party's website! He savaged Mrs May’s meagre package of 27 Bills for the next two years branding it as “thin gruel”.He added: “This is a threadbare legislative programme from a government that has apparently run out of ideas altogether.“This is a government without a majority, without a mandate, without a serious legislative programme, led by a Prime Minister who has lost her political authority, and is struggling to stitch together a deal to stay in office and declared Labour is prepared to lead Britain instead.
The Queen's Speech comes at a time when May's premiership has been seen to be increasingly vulnerable and our country's future uncertain, with negotiations over Britain's departure from the European Union having only just begun. May's own position has been called into question ever since her decision to call a snap election. Her attempt to secure a larger mandate ahead of the Brexit negotiations backfired with her losing her commanding majority. This is a Government with no purpose, that cannot be trusted to build a stronger economy and a fairer society, or committed to keeping our country safe, let alone enhancing our standing in the wider world and bringing the United Kingdom closer together, they are not putting themselves at the service of millions of ordinary working people for whom they should be working every day for, in the national interest.
Parliament must pass the Queen's Speech in a vote, but with May yet to secure a deal with the DUP, she is aware that failure to get the speech through could be seen as a vote of no confidence.Tory MPs who virtually all applauded May's decision to call the general election have deserted her in droves and placed all the blame on her for the loss of their majority, many have admitted her weakness and conceded there was little chance of getting her most unpopular policies voted through. Their dilemma now though is that if they don't support the government's Bills outlined yesterday, they face the prospect of increased instability in the government and it possibly falling, and then them losing their seats in a new election. As they abandon their core policies, reflecting the Conservative's current weak position with there watered down agenda, this minority government is hanging on by a thread and running on very thin ice, what mandate do they actually have to govern? The general election showed people are completely fed up with the cruel austerity policies of the Tories. Policies that they are too muddled at moment to deal with. A Government of pure chaos. We have them on the run, we have to keep pushing, surely it wont be long that Maggie May will be able to stay on.
Jeremy Corbyn's savages "threadbare "Queen's speech ( Full statement)
Jeremy Corbyn's savages "threadbare "Queen's speech ( Full statement)
