Queen’s Speech: The alternatives
The main political parties have been setting out their alternative versions of the Queen’s Speech over the last week. politics.co.uk takes a look at what they are offering.
The Conservatives would concentrate on sustaining economic growth and stability whilst cutting back waste and bureaucracy in government. They would also cut taxes.
Conservative leader Michael Howard said: “We are publishing our Queen’s Speech so that people can see we are serious about tackling what really matters. When we say we’ll do something, we will. We have already set out our Timetable for Action, and we expect people to hold us to account.
“The next Conservative government will act to tackle the things that matter: more police, cleaner hospitals, school discipline, controlled immigration, lower taxes.”
The Liberal Democrats set out a short programme of legislation because with a General Election expected, the next parliamentary session is likely to be short. Charles Kennedy said: “We would introduce measures in the Queen’s Speech that would create a fairer society in which people have their freedoms protected and their fear of crime reduced.”
CRIME and SECURITY
The Conservatives would introduce a range of proposals to address problems with immigration and asylum including: ensuring 24-hour surveillance at ports of entry; introducing a points system for immigration that ensures priority is given to people who want to come to Britain to work hard and make a positive contribution to the country; and ensuring that holiday and student visas cannot be changed to long-stay visas after entry into Britain.
To tackle terrorism, the Conservatives would appoint a Minister for Homeland Security with responsibility for anti-terrorist and emergency planning, and would halt plans to cut four infantry battalions from the Army and three ships from the Royal Navy.
The Liberal Democrats would set up a National Border Force, comprising HM Customs and Excise, the Immigration and Nationality Directorate and police guarding ports and airports, to tackle cross-border terrorism, drug smuggling and people trafficking.
Both parties have put forward proposals to reduce police bureaucracy. The Conservatives would introduce a bill to reduce police paperwork and bureaucracy to enable more officers to be deployed on the streets to detect and deter crime. They would also increase sentences, build more prisons and recruit an additional 5,000 police officers each year. They would require drug addicts to choose between immediate compulsory rehabilitation or prosecution and prison and reclassify cannabis as a Class C drug.
The Liberal Democrats would invest in 10,000 more police in England and Wales and reduce the amount of time spent on form filling. They would also introduce Community Justice Panels to give local people a say in the way that local crime problems are dealt with.
EDUCATION
The Conservatives set out a number of measures to improve the education system. They would reduce teachers’ paperwork, give head teachers complete control over exclusion and give every parent the right to choose the best school for their child. They would fund additional school places and lift restrictions on the expansion of good schools and the opening of new schools. On higher education, they would abolish student tuition fees and the Office for Fair Access
The Liberal Democrats focus on higher education, pledging to scrap both student top-up fees and tuition fees.
ENVIRONMENT
The environment features heavily in the Liberal Democrat’s plans. They would put it at the heart of policy making, along with establishing reporting requirements and environmental standards for government and business; and introducing environmental assessments for national and local government.
The Conservatives would introduce measures to phase out HFCs between 2008 and 2014.
HEALTH
On Health, the Conservatives would tackle waste within the NHS and attach the highest priority to securing cleaner and safer hospitals. They would introduce bills to strengthen public health services, including establishing a Public Health Commission; to remove central directions on hospitals and turn them into Foundation Trusts; and to raise standards of care for those suffering from mental illness.
The Liberal Democrats would introduce free personal care for elderly people most in need of it, as has already been done in Scotland.
PENSIONS, TAX and SAVINGS
Both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats would increase the basic state pension and restore the link between earnings and annual upratings. They would also seek to reduce means testing.
The Conservatives would bring forward measures to restore confidence in long-term savings, reform the social security system and reduce dependence on welfare benefits. And they would introduce a bill to extend the Right to Buy to Housing Association tenants and help others who aspire to home ownerships to buy a share in their home.
The Liberal Democrats would scrap council tax and replace it with a local income tax based on the ability to pay.
TRANSPORT
The Conservatives would conduct an audit of speed cameras to enable the removal of those that it says are sited to raise money and which do not enhance road safety.
