At the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, the King's Speech set out the Labour Government’s legislative agenda for the parliamentary session, with 40 new bills.
Commenting, Richard Fuller MP said:
My concern at the General Election was that we would be sleep-walking into a Labour government that nobody really wanted. And this week, Sir Keir Starmer took full advantage of that with a King's Speech full of big state socialist ideas.
I am going to have my work cut out working out what is in the best interests for the people of North Bedfordshire. As a loyal opposition, we of course wish Sir Keir the best but our job is to scrutinise his work and I will be doing that thoroughly.
Over the coming days, the House of Commons will debate the King's Speech on the topics of Foreign Affairs and Defence; Planning and the Green Belt; the Economy, Welfare and Public Services and Immigration and Home Affairs.
On defence, the Labour Government is refusing to match the Conservatives’ fully funded pledge to spend 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, refusing to set out a timeline for increasing defence spending and wants to conduct a year-long review while the world becomes even more dangerous.
On planning, the green belt and rural affairs, Labour have put forward policies set to remove green belt protections and take away local people’s say. Labour have also failed to address the issues facing farming and rural communities – having dedicated only 87 words to farming in their manifesto - with no mention of farming in the King's Speech.
On the economy, Labour are not being honest about how much their plans cost or which taxes they will hike to pay for them. Labour have inherited near record low levels of unemployment, inflation at the Bank of England target of 2.0 per cent, the fastest growing economy in the G7, and government borrowing falling. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves must not reverse that progress with a suite of unannounced tax rises or increased business regulation that will stifle the economy. The Conservative Party will serve as an effective official opposition and hold Labour to account on their promise not to raise taxes on working people or impose tax rises outside of their manifesto.
On immigration and home affairs, Labour announced they will overturn the last government's plan to send illegal immigrants to a safe third country. The fear remains that without such a deterrent, this country will end up having to accept that a large number of those who cross the Channel illegally will end up remaining here. In his speech, Rishi Sunak also urged the new government to retain the measures the previous government implemented which are forecast to halve net migration in the next 12 months.
The King's Speech can be read here and Rishi Sunak's response, can be watched here.
