Today’s king’s speech offered the clearest vision of the Labour Party’s plan for the country so far. The new government articulated a comprehensive plan on a number of issues, from economic growth to immigration to house building. Here’s what you need to know about the King’s speech.
“Strengthen the Border and Make Streets Safer”
Immigration and ‘Law and Order’ was a repeated theme in the King’s speech today.
During the campaign, polling consistently showed Labour as the most trustworthy party on immigration, with Labour winning out on law and order in the final nine months of the Conservative government. Both positions have historically been held by Conservatives.
Today’s speech appeared to show that Labour was trying to maintain its lead on these key issues. The King’s speech followed up on Starmer’s pledge to crack down on human trafficking gangs, pledging “enhanced counter-terror powers to tackle organised immigration crime”.
However, the Speech confirmed Labour’s pledge to end the Rwanda scheme. The Speech emphasised tackling crime organisations ferrying people across the channel, rather than incentivising migrants themselves not to cross through intimidating policies.
Today’s speech shows that Labour will try to show themselves to be strong on law and order, but will shift from the Conservative’s position.
Housing
The King’s speech followed up on Starmer’s pre-speech promise to “get Britain building again”. The speech pledged to loosen planning law, to speed up the process of housing construction. The speech reiterated the target to build 1.5 million new houses by 2029. As discussed in a previous article, house construction is a central part of Labour’s plan for government.
Labour also pledged to improve the rights of tenants by abolishing section 21 notices, making no-fault evictions illegal. With young voters without homes constituting a large bloc of labour supporters, this announcement follows on from Labour’s promises to make housing more affordable in the wake of the cost of living crisis.
Did the speech go far enough on Child Poverty?
As expected, the King’s speech did not announce the end of the two-child benefit cap.
Although announced a year ago, the King’s speech is likely to draw renewed attention to Labour’s support for the status-quo on this. Criticism of Labour’s position has been levied by figures from Gordon Brown, Wes Streeting and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
In the run-up to today’s speech, criticism once again sprung up. The SNP had announced that they would table an amendment to the King’s speech, with some Labour MPs expressing support for the amendment. The cap is generally unpopular, among not only Labour supporters but a majority of Conservative voters.
However, whilst any MP can table an amendment, only a maximum of four amendments can be debated. Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle would decide what amendments can be debated.
The removal of the Child Benefit cap would be expected to cost £2.5-3.6 billion annually. In the context of Labour’s “dire inheritance” of poor finances from the previous government, Labour will likely defend the position of the King’s speech unless in the face of overwhelming pressure.
Public Transport
Rail will be nationalised according to the speech. Rail privatisation gave temporary contracts for rolling stock which have to be renewed after certain periods. Labour have made clear that they will not use compulsory purchase, but wait for franchises to expire.
The speech also announced that they will allow local authorities to take over local bus services. This has been something that Labour local government have been suggesting to the government for some time.
How will Labour achieve Economic Growth?
As explained in a previous article, it was expected that economic growth would be a central part of today’s speech, however, the route to this is still not completely clear. Today’s speech began with the government promising to “prioritise wealth creation for all communities”. Labour has called growth the “fundamental mission” of their government. But with Reeves’ pledged “Iron Grip” on finances, the root to this seemed unclear.
Today’s speech appeared to answer that. The speech appeared to be supportive of the private sectoring, promising “a partnership with both business and working people”. It sold reforms to improve worker’s rights as “making work pay”, with the king stating that these policies will reduce unemployment by ensuring that wages are liveable.
Labour have also previously connected their ambitious home building plans to improving growth in Rachel Reeves’ chancellor speech, something reiterated today. Labour’s deregulation of planning is expected to improve investment, and by extension GDP.
With a record high 21.8% of UK adults not looking for work, if Labour are successful in reducing unemployment, it would likely improve the UK’s growth situation.
Final Thought
Many speculated that Today’s king’s speech would see Labour roll out a more radical agenda than the public have been used to seeing from Labour in opposition. Whilst this speech did allow Labour to express some of their more unique policies, for the most part, this speech articulated the points that no.10’s pre-speech statement laid out.
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This article was written by Chamber UK’s features writer – Alex Connor.