Queen’s speech: what is in Boris Johnson’s 2020 programme?
Queen’s speech: what is in Boris Johnson’s 2020 programme?
Queen’s speech is Boris Johnson’s second in just over two months. Its 29 bills will be the basis of his legislative agenda for the year. Described as “radical” by the prime minister, it leads on his law to formally take the UK out of the EU. There are also plans to overhaul immigration and put into law investment in the NHS.
The European Union (withdrawal agreement) bill will ratify the deal the prime minister struck with EU leaders in the autumn and which was voted down by parliament repeatedly. He is set to put this bill to MPs on Friday and hopes to have this passed by 31 January. This legislation also includes an implementation period where the UK remains aligned with the EU until 31 December 2020. An agriculture bill will result in Britain leaving the EU’s common agricultural policy. Direct payments to farmers will be phased out. The fisheries bill removes the UK from the common fisheries policy and will put into law that the UK has the powers to operate as an independent coastal state.
The immigration and social security co-ordination (EU withdrawal) bill proposes an Australian-style points based immigration system that would end free movement in UK law. Also, from 2021, EU citizens arriving in the UK will be subject to the same immigration controls as non-EU citizens.
This is the first time a government has enshrined in law the money it promises to spend on the NHS. One of the government’s priority bills, it proposes spending £33.9bn in cash terms by 2023-34. Wider reform as part of an NHS long-term plan also includes delivering 50,000 more nurses, which was a controversial part of Johnson’s manifesto messaging. There is no specific social care bill, but a section of the speech dedicated to reform and how they want to find a “cross-party” consensus on devising a strategy. They pledge to modernise the Mental Health Act and improve processes for detention. And there is a pledge to remove hospital parking charges.
The sentencing bill includes tougher sentences for those who commit violent and sexual offences and terrorism, and an end to the automatic release of prisoners who have served half of their sentences. The release point will instead be moved to two-thirds of a sentence. Johnson said he would bring in legislation on this in November following the London Bridge terror attack, where the killer, Usman Khan, had been automatically released after serving half of his 16-year term. The most serious terrorist offenders will receive a 14-year minimum sentence. The speech also reaffirms the earlier commitment to recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers.
An employment bill is promised that will protect and enhance workers’ rights when the UK leaves the EU. The government will create a new single enforcement body that gives workers being treated unfairly the right to redress. A renters’ reform bill is also set out with the promise of giving tenants more security by removing “no-fault” evictions and reforming the grounds for possession. It also strengthens the rights of landlords who need to gain possession of their property.
The government says it plans to expand the national living wage to those aged between 21 and 25 over a five-year period but does not set out legislation to do so.
A pensions scheme bill includes a “pensions dashboard” so people can access information on schemes online. There is no provision for Waspi women set out in the speech.
