Queen’s Speech

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Wednesday 12th May 2021 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Non-Afl) [V]]

My Lords, I congratulate the two new Members who have made their maiden speeches today and offer my best wishes to the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth on his retirement.

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on the gracious Address. I would like to concentrate on healthcare, the economy and employment and to point out what I feel the Government should be addressing and have omitted to do. I believe that the focus must be on the needs of people who have been battered by the pandemic, which has exposed the weaknesses in our health and social care services and our economic structures.

It is important that the UK has a strategy for rebuilding the NHS, the social care sector, our economy and our high streets, through a revitalisation programme, and for an employment framework. All these require an integrated strategy focused on the needs of communities coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is regrettable that the Government have not brought forward concrete proposals for health and social care in the gracious Address. As the TUC said yesterday:

“The cost of inaction is failing those who rely on the care system and those who work within it.”


One area where the Government have failed is dementia care. They need to look at that again because there are rising levels of need for dementia care and it became much more acute during the pandemic. That sector requires certain investment in terms of social care provision. Imaginative ideas about how we fund elderly care in general and dementia care specifically are required as the numbers continue to grow year on year. The gracious Address indicates that proposals for social care reform will be brought forward. Will the Minister indicate when that legislation will be forthcoming and what the Government’s thinking is regarding content? Will they ensure that our weakest people are properly protected in a timely way? What steps will be taken to ensure that there is an urgent and long-term boost in funding if we are to deliver a resilient and fully integrated health and social care system?

As other noble Lords have said, the gracious Address does not include any references to an employment Bill. To build back better from the combination of this pandemic and Brexit, we need to see improved pay and conditions of work. In this respect, will the Minister indicate why there is an absence of an employment Bill at this stage and whether this is being contemplated for inclusion at a later stage?

Finally, I will mention two aspects that relate to Northern Ireland. Will the Minister indicate, when he responds, what support will be provided to the aviation sector? It is quite a major sector around the city of Belfast both in terms of aircraft building and of aviation, which is a main tool of connectivity in our tourism industry.

The other aspect is something that has not been addressed today but relates more to justice. I am pleased that the Prime Minister issued an apology this afternoon to the victims of Ballymurphy and their families—that is, the 10 victims who were killed, nine of whom, as it was proved yesterday, were killed by British forces; namely, the Parachute Regiment. The 10th one was inconclusive but they were all entirely innocent; that finding was declared yesterday by Mrs Justice Keegan after a detailed forensic report.

In that respect, I urge the Government to look at the legacy and terms of the Stormont House agreement. First, there should not be any amnesties for people who committed heinous crimes, irrespective of their position. Secondly, any legacy legislation that is being proposed—we need to see the flavour of it—should be based on the Stormont House agreement, which was agreed by the majority of parties and both Governments back in 2015.