Britain’s new Labour Party government promised to calm the country’s febrile politics and ease its cost-of-living crisis as it set out its plans for “national renewal” at the grand State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday. Stabilizing the U.K.’s public finances and spurring economic growth were at the center of Prime Minister Keir Starmer ’s legislative agenda, announced in a speech delivered by King Charles III.
Quick Read
- The UK’s new Labour Party government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, announced its legislative agenda for “national renewal” at the State Opening of Parliament.
- King Charles III delivered the speech, emphasizing the government’s commitment to stabilizing public finances and spurring economic growth.
- The speech outlined plans for a new partnership with businesses and workers, addressing cost-of-living challenges and prioritizing wealth creation for all communities.
- The Labour government, which won a landslide victory on July 4, aims to balance bold changes with fiscal responsibility, avoiding personal tax increases.
- The legislative program includes 40 bills, covering housebuilding, nationalizing railways, decarbonizing power supply, and creating Great British Energy, a publicly-owned green energy firm.
- Economic measures feature tighter corporate regulations, independent scrutiny of government budgets, and protections for workers and renters.
- The government plans to improve local governance, bus and railway services, and tackle climate challenges with increased renewable energy and penalties for water pollution.
- Border security enhancements include a new Border Security Command, while the controversial plan to send Channel migrants to Rwanda was scrapped.
- The government intends to reform the House of Lords by removing hereditary nobles but did not address lowering the voting age or setting a retirement age for Lords.
- Starmer aims to reset relations with European partners and maintain strong support for Ukraine, including a path to NATO membership.
- The address was King Charles’ second since Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, delivered with traditional royal pomp but reflecting government policy.
The Associated Press has the story:
UK’s new government announces legislation for ‘national renewal’ as Parliament opens with royal pomp
Newslooks- LONDON (AP) —
Britain’s new Labour Party government promised to calm the country’s febrile politics and ease its cost-of-living crisis as it set out its plans for “national renewal” at the grand State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday. Stabilizing the U.K.’s public finances and spurring economic growth were at the center of Prime Minister Keir Starmer ’s legislative agenda, announced in a speech delivered by King Charles III.
“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 prioritizing wealth creation for all communities,” the king said in a speech to hundreds of lawmakers and scarlet-robed members of the House of Lords.
Starmer campaigned on a promise to bring bold change to Britain at modest cost to taxpayers. He aims to be both pro-worker and pro-business, in favor of vast new construction projects and protective of the environment. The risk is he may end up pleasing no one.
In a written introduction to the speech, Starmer urged patience, saying change would require “determined, patient work and serious solutions” rather than easy answers and “the snake oil charm of populism.”
The King’s Speech is the centerpiece of the State Opening, an occasion where royal pomp meets hard-nosed politics, as the king donned a diamond-studded crown, sat on a gilded throne and announced the laws his government intends to pass in the coming year.
Labour won a landslide election victory on July 4 as voters turned on the Conservatives after years of high inflation, ethics scandals and a revolving door of prime ministers. Starmer has promised to patch up the country’s aging infrastructure and frayed public services, but says he won’t raise personal taxes and insists change must be bound by “unbreakable fiscal rules.”
Wednesday’s speech included 40 bills – the Conservatives’ last speech had just 21 – ranging from housebuilding to nationalizing Britain’s railways and decarbonizing 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.
Economic measures included tighter rules governing corporations and a law to ensure all government budgets get advance independent scrutiny. That aims to avoid a repetition of the chaos sparked in 2022 by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss, whose package of uncosted tax cuts rocked the British economy and ended her brief term in office.
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.
The speech included new measures to strengthen border security, creating a beefed-up Border Security Command with counter-terrorism powers to tackle people-smuggling gangs.
It follows Starmer’s decision to scrap the Conservatives’ contentious and unrealized plan to send people arriving in the U.K. across the English Channel on a one-way trip to Rwanda.
The speech also tackled an issue that has foxed previous governments: reforming the House of Lords. The unelected upper chamber of Parliament is packed with almost 800 members – largely lifetime political appointees, with a smattering of judges, bishops and almost 100 hereditary aristocrats. The government said it would remove the hereditary nobles, though there was no mention of Starmer’s past proposal of setting a Lords retirement age of 80.
There was no mention of lowering the voting age from 18 to 16, though that was one of Labour’s election promises.
While much of Starmer’s agenda marks a break with the defeated Conservative government of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Starmer revived Sunak’s plan to stop future generations from smoking by gradually raising the minimum age for buying tobacco.
The speech confirmed that the government wants to “reset the relationship with European partners” roiled by Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2020. It said there would be no change to Britain’s strong support for Ukraine and promised to “play a leading role in providing Ukraine with a clear path to NATO membership.”
Wednesday’s address was the second such speech delivered by Charles since the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022.
He traveled from Buckingham Palace to Parliament in a horse-drawn carriage – past a small group of anti-monarchy protesters with signs reading “Down with the Crown” – before donning ceremonial robes and the Imperial State Crown to deliver his speech. Police said 10 members of an environmental activist group were arrested near Parliament over alleged plans to disrupt the ceremony.
For all its royal trappings, it is the King’s Speech in name only. The words are written by government officials, and the monarch betrayed no flicker of emotion as he read them out. “The king has zero agency in this,” said Jill Rutter, senior research fellow at the Institute for Government think tank.
