Queen’s Speech

Lord Roberts of Conwy Excerpts

Wednesday 16th May 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Royall of Blaisdon]

My Lords, I move the Opposition’s amendment to the Motion on the gracious Speech. We on these Benches do not do so lightly, and we acknowledge that it is a serious step. To do so is not unprecedented, although we recognise that it is unusual. In fact, the last time it was done was back in 1999, in an amendment against the overall thrust of the policy of the then-Labour Government. The mover of that amendment was none other than the noble Lord, Lord Strathclyde, so we are completely confident that the government Benches will strongly support our right to argue for this amendment today.

Our reason for tabling the amendment is straightforward. We believe that the Government are putting the wrong priorities first because the Government are putting the wrong people first: tax cuts for the rich, but hard-working families being asked to pay more; nurses being laid off, but an expensive and wasteful NHS reorganisation; and police numbers being cut back—indeed, as the police themselves say, 20% cuts are criminal—but nothing being done to tackle crime. There is no legislation, as was promised, on ASBOs. Rather than concentrating on Lords reform, the Government should be concentrating on jobs, on growth, on living standards and on youth unemployment.

Let us consider the economic state of the nation. The economy is in a double-dip recession with no end in sight. Indeed, the latest dismal figures for the building industry suggest that the estimate of national GDP growth of minus 0.2% in the first quarter was overly optimistic, an underestimate of the true scale of economic decline. The UK, as a direct result of this Government’s policies, is set to endure a longer depression than the country suffered in the 1930s. Just today, the Bank of England has cut its growth forecast for this year from 1.2 per cent to 0.8 per cent, and warned that the UK would not be unscathed by the storm which is still convulsing the eurozone. That is precisely why we should be part of, and influencing, the debate rather than standing in isolation. But it is still this Government, not events beyond our shores, who are responsible for the double-dip recession in which we are mired.

What is there in the Queen’s Speech that will do anything to kick-start the economy back into growth? Of course there will be Bills on competition policy and on banking, and on a green investment bank, as the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, said, but I would be grateful if in her reply, the Minister would confirm that the banking Bill is not going to be a carryover Bill, as we had understood.

These may be worthwhile measures. We certainly hope that they will be, but any effect that they have on economic performance will be in the medium to long term. They will make no discernible impact over the next few, crucial, years. The noble Baroness mentioned a Bill to reduce burdens on business by repealing unnecessary legislation. Well, we are all against “unnecessary legislation”, though it seems to me that we have encountered a lot of seriously unnecessary legislation recently—for example, on the National Health Service, something that produced a plethora of quangos. But I leave the verdict on these proposals to none other than the leader writer of that organ of radical thought, the Daily Mail:

“The promised bonfire of the quangos and red tape has been pathetic, with last week’s Queen’s Speech paying only lip service to deregulation”.

I do not think that the Government really understand. They do not seem to understand that it is their policies that have mired the economy in recession and that, without a change of course, without active intervention now, the prospects for a return even to the levels of output seen in 2008 are bleak. The coalition appears to be in recession denial. There is no hope and the people of our country are desperate for vision, hope and opportunity. But the Government lack any vision of how Britain might return to prosperity.

[Lord Roberts of Conwy]

Would the noble Baroness give way? I am very surprised that she does not give a hearty welcome to the increase of 105,000 in employment and the decline of 45,000 in the unemployed that were announced today, facts that were welcomed by the Leader of the Opposition at Prime Minister’s Questions.