King’s Speech

Lord Robathan Excerpts

Wednesday 20th May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Robathan (Con)]

My Lords, while of course I welcome the King’s gracious Speech, the lack of some attention to the needs of this country is staggering. I could speak about HS2, which the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, allegedly has marked on his heart. I do not think that is true, but there we go.

I will speak on welfare, which was not in the Speech. Welfare should be top of the list of this Government’s concerns but appears to have been ignored. Welfare has been treated in this way because of opposition from Back-Benchers who may be pursuing voters in their own constituencies. This is deeply regrettable. The Back-Benchers concerned should be invited to explain themselves to their constituents. The problem is that very important issues are being sacrificed because of some constituents complaining. For instance, getting rid of the two-child benefit cap is frankly embarrassing when we acutely need the money to be spent on defence.

Another issue that was not raised in the Speech is defence. Yes, there was talk of defence, but no real mention of it in the Speech. I raised this issue endlessly with the last Government, and I have to say that things have got appreciably worse since the general election two years ago. It is all very well talking about an Armed Forces Bill, but this does nothing to protect the state. We need a defence investment programme, which we were promised in the excellent paper from the noble Lord, Lord Robertson. I hear that Wes Streeting was calling for it today in the Commons.

I could raise much more that should have been in the Speech. For instance, there was no mention of the antisemitism that is very frightening to Jewish people. These things may be embedded somewhere in other legislation, but frankly they needed to be expressed in the Speech. His Majesty raised his supportive position very well by visiting Golders Green. We need to express more clearly the British people’s resistance to antisemitism in the country.

I grew up on the edge of north-west London, where probably one in six of the boys at school were Jewish. I can honestly say that there was no genuine antisemitism in my school, although we did resent the way they got extra holidays for their Jewish faith. To digress slightly, once they were sitting around discussing what their fathers had done in the war. One young man said, “My grandmother won an Iron Cross”. His name was Soloman, and he was Jewish. I think that is quite interesting. Nobody held it against him.

Similarly, it is obvious that there is a lot of talk of more regulation, whereas we need less regulation in general. Masses of regulation does nothing for this country, and we could be better served with less regulation and a greater respect for law and order. There are 37 Bills in the Speech. I understand that some of the Bills will only increase bureaucratic time-wasting structures on people’s lives. We all talk of reducing the burden on civil servants, but a few of the Bills here may further the bureaucratic nightmare. A European partnership Bill, a regulating for growth Bill and a highways financing Bill are examples of yet more bureaucratic stuff to keep civil servants and the public busy.

The education for all Bill is not going to improve the output of our schools. Most people would say that the educational reforms by the noble Lord, Lord Gove, are working, and now they are being destroyed by the Government. There will be more legislation and no actual improvement. I could wax lyrical about giving 16 and 17 year-olds the right to vote, as I recall my daughter, aged 16, saying that she knew insufficient about government programmes, as did her school friends.

The Northern Ireland Troubles Bill needs to be looked at very closely. I see that some unionists have been opposed to any form of immunity. I understand that, but the truth is that only the nationalists and the IRA benefit from ongoing repercussions that were discussed 28 years ago. Having served in Northern Ireland, I can say that the British Army and the RUC behaved generally quite well. The Government must see that some current attitudes found in the Government are likely to lead to the IRA winning the war, which I do not believe the Government wish to see.

On that note, I will cease speaking. This is a missed opportunity, with far too much detailed legislation that will just add to the burden of this Government and not improve the lives of the people we serve.