In that most famous of A Level politics phrases, Lord Hailsham once spoke of an ‘elective dictatorship’, by which he meant that British politics is dominated by the government of the day. Once elected there’s little to stop them from doing what they want, until the next election; the powers of the opposition are pretty weak. They start a bit earlier than A Levels with this next lesson (I believe this would be taught in what is now called a ‘citizenship lesson') – that whilst the Queen may be head of state, she has very little power these days. However, as Robert Philpot, Director of Progress, and editor of The Purple Book, demonstrates in his call for an alternative Queen’s speech, this doesn’t mean that on the rare occasions the Queen does get to wield her symbolic power, they don't throw light on an issue that goes to the heart of British politics.
In an article for the Huffington Post, Robert details exactly how this happens:
‘Few events in the political calendar underline quite so graphically the power of the government and the impotence of the opposition as much as the Queen's speech. Backed by all the pomp and finery the British state can muster, the Gracious Address, to give it its proper title, affords the government the opportunity to draw a line under past difficulties, and turn a somewhat dry recitation of its legislative programme into a demonstration of its political priorities.’
Ah, yes. Ye olde Queen’s speech. Robert is calling for an alternative Queen’s speech, one which allows the opposition to lay out their own priorities for the coming parliament. Throughout April, Progress Online will be giving figures from across the Labour Party, and the country, the chance to put forward their ideas for what a shadow Queen’s speech could contain. You can read the first in the series to hear former home secretary, Jacqui Smith, call for ‘fiscal responsibility first’. Meanwhile, Robert goes on to detail the priorities for a shadow Queen's speech...
Drawing on the many ideas contained in The Purple Book, here is our first draft:
First, a 'putting children first' bill. By switching resources to early years services we would begin the journey towards high-quality, universal childcare. We would introduce a Teach Early Years First scheme, modelled on the highly successful Teach First which brings the best and brightest graduates into Britain's poorest schools and communities.
Second, a 'parent empowerment' bill to ensure that all parents get the choices already afforded to the wealthiest. We would give parents in schools whose performance is officially assessed as consistently poor the right to choose an alternative state school, and give them an education credit worth 150% of the cost of educating their child to persuade a better performing school to admit them.
Third, a 'patient empowerment' bill which reverses the government's NHS and social care bill, while increasing patient choice, managed competition on the basis of quality not price, and introducing the foundation trust model for the delivery of primary care, ensuring that services are accountable to patients, staff, and the local community.
Fourth, an 'employee empowerment' bill to encourage the growth of employee share ownership, and ensure tax breaks for such schemes are only available where a significant threshold of shares has been distributed to all members of staff.
Fifth, a 'universal social care' bill which transforms elderly care into a universal public service.
Sixth, a 'victims' rights' bill to give legally enforceable rights to the victims of crime, together with a greater say in determining community sentences. We would also introduce legislation for 'Hasbos' to prevent households that repeatedly commit antisocial behaviour from living within a defined range of their former neighbours.
Seventh, a 'something-for-something' welfare reform bill to rejuvenate the social insurance principles of the welfare state. We would begin a move towards a salary based insurance system where higher salaries require higher contributions but where, as in Denmark, higher benefits would be available to those who lose their jobs.
Eighth, a 'democracy for Britain's big cities' bill which would introduce directly elected mayoral authorities for the country's six major city conurbations outside London. Mayors would have powers over transport, planning, economic regeneration and policing akin to those exercised by the mayor of London. Costly and unnecessary elected police commissioners would be done away with, with the mayor able to hire and fire their own commissioner to implement their policing priorities.
Ninth, a 'town hall financial freedom' bill allowing local authorities to cut or raise the basic and higher rates of income tax by three pence in the pound, subject to a popular mandate through a local referendum. This would be accompanied by other tax and fiscal freedoms to allow local government to encourage new businesses and the building of more homes.
Finally, a 'banking sector mutualisation' bill which remutualises Northern Rock and sells 600 branches of Lloyds TSB to new or existing mutuals.
Quite a list. Stay tuned for further updates on contributions from Labour figures.