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RT HON BARONESS ROYALL OF BLAISDON LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION HOUSE OF LORDS

STATE OPENING: QUEENS SPEECH RESPONSE

WEDNESDAY MAY 9, 2012

My Lords, I beg to move that this debate be adjourned till tomorrow. It is a pleasure to congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Cope of Berkeley, and the noble Baroness, Lady Jolly, for their first-rate speeches this afternoon. There is a tradition of excellence in these speeches on the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament, my Lords, and it is a tradition which the noble Lord and the noble Baroness have upheld in an exemplary manner.

As noble Lords will be aware, Lord Cope was a Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire until his seat was abolished, and was then returned for the Northavon constituency. A victim of boundary changes under the last Conservative government who subsequently lost his seat to a LibDem, Mr Steve Webb. However, I wonder what will happen in that and other seats in the next election when members of the coalition stand against each other ? As a Gloucestershire girl albeit from the other side of the River Severn my heart warms to the noble Lord, also as a former whip and to someone who I know enjoys racing at Chepstow. I have to say that following last weeks elections, it does look, in Parliamentary terms, as though he may not be backing the right horse. And as a chartered accountant, he should be cautious enough that as a racing fan, hes careful and cautious as to how be places his political bets.

If the noble Lord, Lord Cope of Berkeley, is a deeply experienced politician, Baroness Jolly is a relative new girl on the Liberal Democrat benches. I was delighted to read that she is an engineer who subsequently taught mathematics, and that she too, like me, has spent much of her time in the South West. Her work in the community, in the not-for-profit sector, on the rather different issues of rural poverty and Oman, and of course her work in the National Health Service are all sterling tributes to her energy, commitment and sense of service. The noble Baroness is also clearly a woman of some fortitude and resilience, in that she served as the election agent for the then-Paul Tyler in the 1997 general election. To serve as the noble Lord, Lord Tylers election agent and subsequently to arrive on the same benches as him in the House of Lords must offer an unrivalled chance to hear the noble Lords views on further reform of your Lordships House.

My Lords, for a considerable number of members of your Lordships House, todays events will be the first time they will have experienced in person, in their roles now, the State Opening of Parliament and the Gracious Speech setting out the legislative programme of the government of the day. The first time because of the unprecedented length of the last session. It is now, all but a few days, two years since this coalition government set out its first legislative programme at the start of what was to become a marathon, monster session. Think back, my Lords, to that time. Think back to the flurries of excitement and urgency in which the coalition was formed in the wake of no single political party winning the general election. Think back to the days of seeing Liberals in office for the first time, other than in wartime, since 1906. Think back to the sun-dappled days of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister in the Downing Street garden. Think back, my Lords, to when it all seemed, for them, bright and sparkling and new. And then look at the reality. The reality of a Tory-led government doing what all Tory governments have done since 1948: attack the National Health Service.

The reality of Liberal Democrats rejecting their signed, explicit preelection promises not to increase university tuition fees, blighting the life chances of a generation of young people, and bringing charges of political treason which made themselves manifest, I suspect, in last weeks local elections and which will hit them even harder in the next general election. The reality of the loss of more than 16,000 police officers through cutting too far and too fast cuts so unacceptable to the police that they are marching against them tomorrow, under the banner of 20 per cent cuts are criminal, and my own local and principled Chief Constable in South Gloucestershire has resigned rather than implement them. Indeed, I believe he will be marching tomorrow. The reality of the coalitions unstinting attacks, across a range of policies, on [families], on women, on young people, [and on the elderly]. The reality of the Governments botched and partisan attempts at constitutional reform. The shambles of the AV referendum. Gerrymandering Parliamentary constituencies. Rigging the length of parliaments. My Lords, this is the record of this government in its first two years since its first Queens Speech. Not the record of sun-dappled achievement which the Prime Minister and the increasingly desperate-sounding Deputy Prime Minister like to try to promote. But the record of failure, of people hit hard by Tory policies and Tory cuts supported, every step of the way, to their partys permanent shame, by the Liberal Democrats.

Not liberal. Not democratic. Just Tory. The real record. The record of businesses and shops closing. Of people being put out of work. Of young people never getting in to work. Of the already-disadvantaged being forced to move hundreds of miles to get a roof over their heads. Of communities being blighted by cuts. Of trying to sell off our forests. Of tax cuts for the rich. Of Britain once again being isolated in Europe. Worst of all, of an economy now back in recession, in the first double-dip recession since the pre-Thatcher era. The record of an economy which should now, as others are around the world since the global financial crisis, be about jobs and growth, not about cuts which are going too far and too fast. And we dont even need to think back that far. Dinners for donors. The Budget. Petrol buying chaos. My Lords, thats the record of this coalition government. Thats the reality of this coalition government. No wonder, then, Conservative councillors were losing their seats all across the country in last weeks local elections the partys dismal showing beaten only by their coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats, who saw their number of local councillors fall below the 3,000 level for the first time in the partys entire history. My Lords, this is a government which we can all now see is unfair, incompetent and out of touch. So does the Governments legislative programme show that the coalition has listened to the electors who so soundly and so clearly rejected their policies last week ?

What is first most noticeable about the legislative programme, my Lords, what is not in it, rather than what is. Nothing on jobs. Nothing on growth. Nothing to get this recession-mired economy moving. Nothing to ease peoples worries. Worries about their jobs, their mortgages, their childrens opportunities. Worried about the cost of their weekly shop. Worried about filling the car. Worried about the NHS, about their schools. Worried about crime. Worried about what happens when they get old. Worried about the present. And worried about the future. Amid newspaper reports of the Queen Speech being ripped up at the last minute to make way for todays offering and the inclusion of a Bill on donors to charities, trying to right the wrong of the Budget, is clearly nothing more than a panic measures - we heard the legislative equivalent of cars crashing gearboxes as the Government went into reverse on a whole range of issues. Reverse gear in the wake not only of last weeks actual election results but the interpretation immediately put upon them by Tory backbenchers, who were straight away hoisting warning cones about the need to see a return to Conservative values, and the need for them to see too the end of the Liberal Democrat tail wagging the coalition dog. So, suddenly, no legislation on gay marriage. So, suddenly, a very different tone on further reform of your Lordships House.

As no less than the Chancellor of the Exchequer was kind enough to tell us on television over the weekend, insisting that House of Lords reform would not be allowed to be a distraction: Look, he said, when it comes to the House of Lords, Parliament will debate this and Parliaments perfectly capable of debating many things, thats what parliaments do but it is not going to be the number one overriding priority of this Government, absolutely not. He went on to say that Lords reform is not where the efforts of the Government and the executive are going to be directed. Even the noble Lord, the Leader of the House, pitched in, revealing his view that plans for Lords reform could be killed in Commons not, in his view, by the Opposition, but by his own side: killed by Conservative backbenchers opposed to an 80 per cent elected second chamber. Last week, my Lords, we in this House debated two reports on further Lords reform, the reports of the all-party, Joint Committee on the Governments House of Lords Reform Bill, and the Alternative Report proposed by a very large minority group on the Joint Committee. Both argued for a referendum on further reform of your Lordships House a policy for which my party, and only my party, has been arguing. A policy for which the coalition has been arguing there is no need. Suddenly, my Lords, we have a source very close to Mr Cameron, as the papers put it, saying that the Prime Minister is now very likely to approve a referendum on Lords reform, in direct contradiction of the insistence of his Deputy, Mr Nick Clegg.

My Lords, further reform of your Lordships House is indeed indicated in the legislative programme set out in the Gracious Speech. But in a way which seems to damage the Government both ways at once. Firstly, it could barely be given a less propitious birth. All it says in the Queens Speech is that: A Bill will be brought forward to reform the composition of the House of Lords. But put that together, my Lords, with the briefing which has gone on around it, from the Chancellor on the weekend media to the guidance which seems to emanating from the centre of government today, that there is nothing set in stone, nothing definite which will happen, nothing which will upset the applecart, nothing which will displease Tory backbenchers, nothing which will proceed without consensus. Whatever else last weeks reports from the Joint Committee and the minority group of the Joint Committee showed, my Lords, they showed with absolutely clarity that there is no consensus, no consensus at all on Lords reform. No consensus within each of the two Houses. No consensus across each of the two Houses. And no consensus between the two Houses. And, crucially, the briefing battle around todays Queens Speech shows us clearly that there is no consensus on Lords reform within the coalition, either. So what you see before you, my Lords, is the prospect of a Bill which looks as though it can barely muster enough energy to be a Bill. And yet, at precisely the same time, it is still distorting this legislative programme.

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So much has been shovelled aside to make way for it. The media was full of stories last week listing out what has already gone. So no Bill on enshrining in law the target for international aid of 0.7 per cent of national income. No Bill getting High Speed Rail going, despite the warm words about infrastructure investment in yesterdays damp squib of a relaunch. No bills on a register of lobbyists, on bailiff reform, on forced marriage. All promised. None delivered. We will look, my Lords, at whether theres anything of value in the bills the Government is proposing to bring forward on adult care, on familyfriendly work flexibility, on arrangements for children with special educational needs, on pensions, on a green investment bank, on public sector pensions and others. The devil will be in the detail and weve seen in this last, long, two-year session how wretched that detail can be, on the NHS, on welfare, on legal aid, on forests. My Lords, even after what we are led to believe has been major surgery to this Queens Speech, even after the reverses, about-turns and changes of position, this is still a legislative programme which clearly shows that the Government is out of touch. What the country wants, what the country made plain last week that it requires, is clear. The people of this country want to see this government take action. Not action to help this coalition. But action to help this country. People want to see action on jobs. On growth. On the economy.

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Where, in the Queens Speech, is that action ? Where, in the Queens Speech, is the economy at all ? Where is the strategy for growth ? Where is the strategy for jobs ? Where is the legislation for helping this country out of recession ? Where is the programme for the people of this country ? Not in the legislative programme we have seen today, my Lords. What we have seen today is a programme for no change. A programme where nothing is changing because this Tory-led government is putting the wrong people first. The Government is trying to build a narrative that the Queens Speech is family-friendly, yet in the Budget, it is asking millions of families to pay more, while giving tax cuts to millionaires. It is laying off thousands of nurses in the NHS, while spending billions on a wasteful and destructive NHS reorganisation. And it is cutting spending and raising taxes too far and too fast, leading to low growth and high unemployment, including a million young people out of work. Lets be clear, my Lords, what should have been in this Queens Speech today. What should have been in todays Queens Speech is measures to help boost growth and jobs. To help living standards, and to help unemployed young people.

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What should have been in todays Queens Speech is: a fair deal on tax, reversing the tax cuts for the rich a fair deal on energy, breaking the dominance of the big six power companies a fair deal on transport, stopping train operators from bringing in above-inflation prices a fair deal for consumers, to stop ripoff surcharges by banks, pension firms and low-cost airlines a fair deal on jobs, using money raised by taxing bank bonuses to provide real jobs with real wages for more than 100,000 young people. Thats the kind of Queens Speech this country wants to see. Thats the kind of Queens Speech this country needs to see. Thats why we on these benches will be putting down an amendment to the motion before the House, calling on this coalition government to address properly the economic recovery this needs, to bring in measures to boost growth and jobs, and to improve living standards and the opportunities for young people out of work. That is what these benches will be pressing for, and that is what we would urge Members on all sides of your Lordships House to support. My Lords, with that amendment before us, this is a Queens Speech which we look forward to debating over the rest of this week and next.

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This is a legislative programme we look forward to scrutinising, and where we oppose, opposing as vigorously as we can, over the rest of this new session. And this is a government an out of touch government; an unfair government; an incompetent government which we look forward to seeing defeated at the next general election. My Lords, I beg to move that this debate be adjourned till tomorrow.

ENDS