Conservative Diary

« Meet the REAL Cabinet | Main | Where will the axe fall for the £6 billion in cuts being announced tomorrow? »

The Sunday Telegraph previews Tuesday's Queen's Speech

Screen shot 2010-05-22 at 19.42.04 Tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph splashes with a story about Tuesday's Queen Speech. The splash, written by Political Editor Patrick Hennessy notes the following (not necessarily exhaustive contents of the Coalition's legislative programme):

  • An Academies Bill that will allow more schools to become free of local authority control and a second Education Bill that will pave the way for Michael Gove's Swedish-schools reforms.
  • A Great Repeals Bill will terminate plans for identity cards and restore other civil liberties. A free vote on repealing the ban on hunting with dogs is unlikely, however.
  • There will also be legislation for fixed-term parliaments, a right for voters to “recall” ethically questionable MPs, a referendum on changing the voting system and other political reforms promised by Nick Clegg.
  • There will be two Bills from Iain Duncan Smith’s Work and Pensions Department including one that will overhaul the benefits system.
  • Andrew Lansley will have a Health Bill focused on the reduction of  inequalities.
  • A Bill to ensure that future transfers of power to the EU are subject to referenda will be published in the autumn. I'm reliably informed it's not called The Bolting The Stable Door After The Horse Has Bolted Bill.
  • Eric Pickles will present a simple Bill that will scrap Labour's plan to reorganise local government in Exeter and Norwich.
  • There will also be Bills dedicated to Energy Security and the Green Economy, Social responsibility and one, for Nick Herbert, on Police Reform.

Hennessy confirms that George Osborne will use Monday to allocate £6bn of first year savings across Whitehall. These cuts will be just a curtain-raiser for a full-scale spending review in the autumn that will require “eye-wateringly tight” cuts.

Tim Montgomerie

Comments

You must be logged in using Intense Debate, Wordpress, Twitter or Facebook to comment.