Queen's speech

‘We welcome the prime minister's pledge for better care for older people, which shows how support for older people and their carers has become a crucial issue in the forthcoming election. He has rightly recognised that the care system is not fit for purpose. The new care bill is a step on the way towards an improved system. But, the devil will be in the detail. We need to see who will be helped and how it will be funded. Better care for older people will only become reality if backed by a radical vision for a national care service and sufficient funding to meet current and future needs.’ - Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel and Care

‘We welcome the prime minister's pledge for better care for older people, which shows how support for older people and their carers has become a crucial issue in the forthcoming election. He has rightly recognised that the care system is not fit for purpose. The new care bill is a step on the way towards an improved system. But, the devil will be in the detail. We need to see who will be helped and how it will be funded. Better care for older people will only become reality if backed by a radical vision for a national care service and sufficient funding to meet current and future needs.’ - Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel and Care

‘While barely attracting a mention in the mainstream media, the Queen’s speech laid out some serious government commitments on the environment. As well as reconfirming the government’s commitment to secure international agreement at Copenhagen, the speech highlights proposals to do more to tackle fuel poverty, to push the UK forwards in Carbon Capture and Storage technology and to support high-speed rail.

It will be interesting now to see whether Cameron’s Conservatives still are green enough to support the level of investment needed for these ambitious plans.’ – Andrew Pakes, chair of SERA

‘There is a lot of substance in this speech, which makes me think that if this had been the Queen’s speech in 1997 we would all be saying how radical it was: free care for the most needy, a legal commitment to abolishing child poverty, national entitlements to good quality education. Now of course it is read within the wider narrative of political decline so will struggle to get a positive media response. The idea to legislate on important goals like abolishing child poverty has something to be said for it – it ties down future governments to this crucial goal. However, a more effective way of building that progressive legacy would have been to build a public consensus that any government should tackle poverty and inequality. Unfortunately we are very far from that.’ - Rick Muir, senior research fellow at the ippr

‘We need to ensure that the banking sector are never again allowed to bring the economy to its knees. That’s why it’s right that the Queen’s speech included measures to crack down on irresponsible bonuses. And, as we re-build the economy we need to reduce government debt – but not until that recovery is assured. Halving the deficit is realistic and responsible – and shows that while we must support businesses and families through the recession we must ensure that we get back to balanced budgets again to support growth and prosperity in the future.’ - Rachel Reeves, Labour PPC for Leeds West

'The only test of a Queen's speech is whether it answers the great questions in the minds of the public. Right now the economy is everything.' - Paul Richards, weekly columnist for Progress Online

‘Carrying over the Child Poverty Bill is obviously hugely important; we hope all parties will ensure the passage of this ground breaking legislation before the election. Ending child poverty should mean just that. The government must commit to ending all child poverty. The 10% proposed in the bill currently would have 1 million children in poverty and that is unacceptable.’ - Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group

‘I am not a fan of the political ventriloquism of how the Queen’s speech works. It is a good thing to have some pomp, ceremony and history associated with the opening of parliament. But a better approach would be for the Queen to be able to speak as Head of State about the value of parliament and the democratic process, with her government’s substantive programme of legislation then set out by the prime minister and government ministers whose words these are.

Still, it is very good to hear the Queen set out that her government will “enshrine in law its commitment to abolish child poverty by 2020”. That is a reminder too that the legislative ambitions set out in the Queen’s speech need to be combined with choices on priorities for spending and taxation in the pre-budget report and budget to show how values of fairness can best combine continued commitments to tackle poverty and reduce inequality with the commitment to halve the current budget deficit across the next parliament.

On constitutional reform, even if there were barriers to an electoral reform referendum on election day, an opportunity has been missed in not legislating for a later referendum to put the issue to the electorate, perhaps for spring 2011.’ - Sunder Katwala, general secretary of the Fabian Society

18 Nov 2009 15:19

 

© Progress 2010. All rights reserved. Website design & management by Square Eye Ltd.