King’s Speech

Baroness Randerson Excerpts

Wednesday 15th November 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Randerson (LD)]

My Lords, I will be changing the tone slightly here because, like occasional other noble Lords in this series of debates, I will be speaking about a different topic, as we are entitled to. But in the spirit of things here today, I will be putting my words in an international context. One noble Lord after another has, by implication if not explicitly, emphasised the importance of Britain’s role in the world and the significance of maintaining that.

Before I speak about higher education and transport, I declare an interest as chancellor of Cardiff University. I start with higher education. This sector is one of our country’s great strengths, earning probably £150 billion a year for the economy. Universities are also a source of tremendous soft power across the world. Examine the CVs of leaders across the world and you will see that many of them have studied in Britain. But you would never guess that universities are a great national asset from the Government’s rhetoric. Instead, they are depicted simply as a problem, and in this year’s gracious Speech we were promised measures to deal with low-value courses. I should have thought that a Conservative Government would leave that to the market. Indeed, the higher education market is intensely competitive. How do the Government intend to measure low-value courses? After all, I am sure they will not just use salaries post-graduation.

Nothing in the gracious Speech deals with the biggest problem facing universities, which is that the funding model needs urgent reform because Brexit and Covid dealt twin blows to university sources of income. Horizon is, thankfully, restored, but belatedly, and many millions have been lost in research funding. It will take many years to rebuild. Sadly, there are no plans announced in the Speech to rejoin Erasmus, which is so important in expanding the horizons of young people which is so good for international peace and understanding.

Universities increasingly rely on foreign students for income. Fewer EU students means that they have to look to the wider world, and the Government’s measures in relation to making it more difficult to get visas not only affect the numbers of applicants coming to our universities but actually make it more difficult for university staff and researchers from the UK to visit those countries concerned, as retaliatory action is taken. I hope that the new Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary will discuss this problem.

On transport, the gracious Speech was a huge disappointment. It seems the Government cannot manage to stop the boats but are determined to stop the pedicabs—they are referred to as a “scourge”, which is a slight overstatement. As a nation, we face the twin challenges of a creaking transport infrastructure and rapidly changing technology. On both, the Government’s response is inadequate. Last year’s Speech promised a transport Bill to cover Great British Railways. This year, that Bill has been abandoned, along with the second phase of HS2, and there has been a watering down of the Government’s net-zero ambitions, and hence their responsibilities to the rest of the world. These policy U-turns were greeted with dismay by the automotive and rail industries and particularly by foreign investors in the UK.

In post-Brexit Britain, we have lost a lot of what were our major markets in the EU and must look to modern technology to adapt for the future. I welcome the planned legislation on automated vehicles but regret that there is still nothing to deal with micromobility, such as electric scooters, and nothing to encourage the use of sustainable aviation fuels or further development of electric vehicle charging. Finally, since most people in Britain still rely on public transport, why has Great British Railways gone from a major government plan to a draft Bill? We are wasting vital time in sorting out our national infrastructure. We cannot be an international player of great power, strength and status unless we have a decent, modern infrastructure.