Business of the House

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts

Thursday 14th May 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for today, Wendy Chamberlain.

[Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)]

May I start by associating myself with the remarks of the Leader of the House in relation to Brighton and the elections? It is not easy to stand for elected office, particularly if you are not successful, and it does take a toll, so I thank him for those remarks.

I also thank the Leader of the House for providing us with the first set of business for the new Session, but I have to note that at the beginning of the previous Session the new Government made a virtue of the fact that they would be putting an end to the incessant chaos of the Conservatives, yet we find ourselves again with a Prime Minister who appears to have lost all authority. We all know that changing Prime Minister over and over again is deeply damaging for our economy and our place on the world stage. I heard us described in recent days as, “Italy without the cuisine.”

When we look at the content of the King’s Speech, we see the reason why this Prime Minister has run out of road, despite having such a large majority: there is no real change offered by this Government’s policy agenda, just a tinkering around the edges. There is an EU reset Bill that offers no reset and no attempt to boost growth by moving beyond the Government’s red lines. There are no measures to boost national security by introducing a programme of defence bonds, and there is nothing to fix the crisis in social care that plagues so many of our constituents.

Will the Leader of the House schedule a debate in Government time on how to stop this continued chaos of successive Conservative and Labour Governments? Perhaps some of the Prime Minister’s Cabinet colleagues might want to come along and make contributions. After last week’s results, one of the solutions that should be discussed in that debate is the need to move to a system of proportional representation for general elections, as well as for local government elections in England. That need has never been greater. We Liberal Democrats will always support calls for making every vote count, and that is despite results in Richmond upon Thames and some of the Scottish constituencies—including my own, I have to say—that would make Kim Jong Un blush. Will the Leader of the House speak to the Prime Minister and try to persuade him that if he wants to leave some form of legacy that he can be proud of, he should make time for a Bill on fair votes?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

The King’s Speech made it clear, as has the Prime Minister, that the long-term national interest does require a closer relationship with our European allies—now more so than ever—because there are huge opportunities to strengthen our security and cut the cost of living. We have made progress with closer co-operation on agriculture, electricity, emissions trading and more, but I have to say that the previous Government’s Brexit deal did deep damage to the economy. We will not be joining the customs union or the single market and we will not be returning to freedom of movement, but legislation will be coming forward to reset the relationship with Europe, because the Prime Minister and the Government are very clear on the need for closer partnership.

On proportional representation, our party’s position is very clear. I note that the Liberal Democrats have an opportunity to table an amendment to the Address in reply to King’s Speech on this, if they so wish, and if they do so, I think they will get an answer they do not want to hear.