Queen’s Speech

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth Excerpts

Tuesday 10th June 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth (Con)]

My Lords, it is a great pleasure to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Turner of Camden, who speaks with such knowledge and authority. This has been a very interesting debate in which we have benefited from two outstandingly cogent and engaging maiden speeches from my noble friend Lord Bamford and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham.

A point made by many noble Lords on the Benches opposite relates to the content of the Queen’s Speech and the suggestion that it is light. I do not think that is the case. I have done some research through the internet on previous Queen’s Speeches. It is interesting that search engines reveal that in relation to previous gracious Speeches the person most mentioned after Her Majesty is Dennis Skinner. That throws up the interesting possibility of him being an important part of the constitution. Perhaps we have missed a trick in the gracious Speech in not seeking to privatise him.

In the last two years of the previous Labour Government 26 Bills were proposed, whereas in the last two years of this Government there have been 28. We should not just measure the number of Bills but also examine their content. However, the suggestion that this is the fag end of the coalition Government is not borne out by the important content of the Bills in the latest Queen’s Speech. I refer, for example, to the measures on pensions, which were referred to most recently by the noble Baroness, Lady Turner of Camden. Under the new proposals people will not be obliged to take a lump sum and the annuity option will still be available. We should rejoice in the fact that pensions will be freed up so that people will be able to take a lump sum if they want to do so. I agree that it is important that there should be access to impartial, independent advice. However, given the provision of such advice, this is a radical, bold move which will help pensioners across the board. If they have that independent advice, they can make up their minds about what is most appropriate for them.

Also, the pooling of funds as is done in Denmark and the Netherlands is again welcome. The noble Baroness, Lady Sherlock, referred to the fact that she welcomed that. If we look at this and study it, it will again help pensioners in years to come. It is important and to be welcomed. It is a meaty part of the gracious Speech.

I turn next to another important part, relating to small businesses. In many contributions from all round the House, noble Lords talked about business as if somehow all businesses are the same. Indeed, there have been suggestions that people disapprove of business. That may be true in terms of polling but I suspect that where that is the case they looked much more at large FTSE companies than at small businesses—the small print shop at the corner of the street, or the small two or one-person business that has become incorporated, the sole trader. These are vital for the running of our economy.

I welcome some of the measures heralded in the gracious Speech. On providing fair access to public procurement contracts, as the Minister said, £230 billion is spent on those contracts. To ensure that small businesses have a share of that is right and important not just for those small businesses but for the entire country, which will benefit from the prosperity that that will generate.

I also welcome the provision looking at red tape. I know that routinely Governments always do this. I hope the Government are serious about this because it is important. Look at the way we treat businesses, for example in the Companies Act 2006. This is not a political point: the Act was passed under the last Government but largely with all-party approval. It is the largest measure ever passed by the Westminster Parliament, with 1,300 Sections and 16 Schedules. It applies, by and large if not entirely, as much to the small incorporated business with perhaps one shareholder as it does to FTSE companies. That is nonsense. Admittedly there are exceptions, but we need much more to drill down and ensure that we do not tie up in red tape our small businesses—which should be in the business of business: earning income and providing employment for people. It is more appropriate for larger companies, perhaps, but even there we need to be careful. That Companies Act is also without reference to the insolvency legislation, European directives, the Enterprise Act, financial services legislation and so on. I am not suggesting that we throw out health and safety legislation. That is vital. Good work has been done on that by successive Governments. However, we need to see how we treat small businesses with a lighter touch on some of the regulatory provisions relating to meetings, accounts and so on. That is imperative. In so far as the Queen’s Speech heralds that, I very much welcome it.

Other provisions in the Queen’s Speech I will mention just briefly. The assistance for public house tenants is to be welcomed as malpractices happen. I welcome the fact that we are to have a statutory code and an adjudicator. That is important.

I welcome, too, the provision on carrier bags. In Wales, I voted in favour of this—I am sure my noble friend Lord German did, too—in Cardiff when it went through. Wales was the first part of the United Kingdom to have this legislation and it went through with all-party approval. Again, it makes sense environmentally and from an economic point of view. It is much to be welcomed and is not just applicable within the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. It has been tried and tested and is working in parts of Africa such as Botswana and parts of Asia such as Hong Kong—in slightly different ways, admittedly. There is much we could learn from that, too.

I also mention briefly the carryover Bill—the Wales Bill. I declare my interest as a member of the Silk commission that did a lot of the work now contained in that Bill. This is an important piece of legislation that will contribute to the economy. It provides for a measure of taxation for the National Assembly for Wales in terms of landfill, stamp duty land tax, income tax subject to a referendum, and a measure of borrowing. No doubt we will have to revisit some of that after the Scottish referendum in terms of the way it works across the United Kingdom, but that is an important piece of legislation, too.

In short, there is much in this gracious Speech to welcome. I am sure we all have our pet schemes and would like the Government to have done some other things. For example, I am interested in the promotion of STEM education—something we need to be doing—and the protection of older people. There are many things, but I have sat through most of the debate and I have noticed that there is not much that people have disagreed with. The speech has been criticised for not containing things, rather than for what it contains. With that, I welcome the gracious Speech.