NEW DELHI: In a moment of traditional and sometimes surreal British pomp and ceremony, Westminster on Wednesday witnessed the first King’s Speech under a Labour government since 1950.
Britain’s King Charles III delivered the speech, outlining the legislative agenda of Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s new Labour government. This marks the first time a Labour government has presented its programme since 2009, after the party’s landslide victory in the July 4 general election.
The King’s Speech, written by the government, also tried to set a new tone to British politics, promoting service rather than self interest, something that Labour says took root over 14 years of often chaotic Conservative Party rule.
“My government will govern in service to the country,” said Charles, wearing a crimson and white robe and the Imperial State crown.Starmer’s caution for Britain
Britain’s King Charles III delivered the speech, outlining the legislative agenda of Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s new Labour government. This marks the first time a Labour government has presented its programme since 2009, after the party’s landslide victory in the July 4 general election.
The King’s Speech, written by the government, also tried to set a new tone to British politics, promoting service rather than self interest, something that Labour says took root over 14 years of often chaotic Conservative Party rule.
“My government will govern in service to the country,” said Charles, wearing a crimson and white robe and the Imperial State crown.
Starmer’s caution for Britain
Starmer also had a warning for voters who might hope the new Labour government can quickly fix the problems buffeting Britain. “Rebuilding our country will not happen overnight. The challenges we face require determined, patient work and serious solutions,” he wrote.
“We will unlock growth and take the brakes off Britain, turning the page for good on the economic irresponsibility and pervasive inability to face the future that we saw under the Conservative government.”
Starmer’s agenda featured big ticket items including a shakeup of planning laws to trigger housebuilding and infrastructure investment, the establishment of a publicly-owned energy company and a plan to bring failing privatised railway networks back into public ownership.
The speech included over 35 bills.
Key priority areas:
- Turbocharging the economy: Labour plans to spur economic growth and create wealth across the UK through measures like a new industrial strategy, strengthening workers’ rights, and banning zero-hour contracts.
- Tackling the housing crisis: The government will restore mandatory housebuilding targets and reform planning laws to make it easier to build more homes and infrastructure projects. With the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the government signalled it would restrict the ability of local people to block new developments, saying there would be “democratic engagement with how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built”.
- Addressing the cost-of-living crisis: Measures will be taken to prevent a repeat of the utility bill price hikes that triggered the UK’s recent cost-of-living crisis.
- Improving public services: Labour has promised to patch up the country’s aging infrastructure and frayed public services, including the renationalisation of Britain’s rail services. The government set out plans to gradually renationalise the passenger rail network and set affordable fares to draw people back on to trains by handing the state control of rail contracts held by private companies, once they have expired. This decision would mostly reverse the privatisation of the railways conducted in the 1990s by the then-Conservative government.
- Strengthening border security: A new border security command will be established to address irregular immigration.
- Restoring relations with Europe: The controversial plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has been scrapped, signaling a shift in the government’s approach to immigration and relations with Europe. The speech also made clear the government’s drive to reset relations with the European Union after years of Brexit rancour, with the King saying his ministers “will seek a new security pact to strengthen cooperation”. It is a goal Starmer can work towards when he hosts a meeting of the European Political Community, a group of more than 40 states formed in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
- Fiscal responsibility: Despite these ambitious plans, Starmer has insisted that change must be bound by “unbreakable fiscal rules” and that personal taxes will not be raised.
The speech also included measures to give more powers to local government and ensure independent scrutiny of government budgets.
While the agenda is seen as “very ambitious and very wide-ranging”, it has also been criticised for having “seven gaping holes” that may not satisfy everyone.
What was missing from agenda, as per critics
- Defense spending hike: Starmer has long promised an increase in UK defense spending to 2.5% of GDP — as more Nato countries call for allies to step up spending in the face of a belligerent Russia. Starmer has, however, refused to put a timetable on that spending pledge. The King’s speech included a commitment to a “strong defense based on” NATO values, but it did not include Starmer’s defense spending pledge.
- An AI bill: Labour’s manifesto promised to support the development of the Artificial Intelligence sector and to introduce regulation on companies developing the most powerful AI models. But some expectations of an explicit AI bill in the King’s speech did not come to pass.
- Gender reform: Amid the thorny debate about balancing transgender rights and the pushback from so-called gender critical activists, Labour promised during the election campaign to “modernise, simplify and reform” the process behind legally changing gender. The pledge to overhaul the Gender Recognition Reform Act did not make it into the King’s speech as a new bill.
- Votes at 16: Starmer’s manifesto included a commitment to extend the vote to 16 and 17-year olds in all elections. But Starmer has since admitted that this policy isn’t much of a priority — and it did not make it into the King’s speech.
- End the two-child benefit limit: Labour opted not to scrap the controversial Conservative two-child limit on benefits — sometimes referred to as the two-child benefit cap and has said only that it would like to do so once there is fiscal room. The cap prevents parents from claiming welfare for a third child.
- Abolish the House of Lords: As recently as 2022, Starmer had promised to abolish the House of Lords. Many on the left and across his party have long wished to replace the unelected second chamber with an elected legislative reviewing body. in the King’s speech, Labour has sought reform rather than abolition.
- Rejoining the EU: many Labour MPs have come out wanting to rejoin the EU, however, Starmer said he wants a closer relationship with Europe. The King’s speech said his government will seek to “reset the relationship with European partners”.
However, former Labour minister Tony McNulty said the party is “hungry” to show that it can be the “natural party of government” once again.