Britain’s Conservative government is unveiling a policy plan ahead of the election that includes tougher sentences for criminals and measures to curb inflation and boost economic growth
From
JILL LAWLESS Associated Press
November 7, 2023, 3:41 a.m. ET
3 minutes read
LONDON – Britain’s Conservative government is unveiling a policy plan for the election at Tuesday’s grand opening that includes tougher punishments for criminals and measures to curb inflation and boost economic growth.
King Charles III will read out a speech written by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government outlining its legislative plans for next year.
It is almost certainly the last speech of its kind before a national election and Sunak’s first chance to set out major legislative plans since becoming prime minister just over a year ago. The last session of Parliament began in May 2022, when Boris Johnson was Prime Minister and Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne.
Charles became monarch when his mother died in September 2022 after a 70-year reign. He will deliver the first speech from the King – and not the Queen – since 1951.
The opening ceremony of Parliament is a spectacular pageant that reflects the two sides of Britain’s constitutional monarchy: royal splendor and political power.
The day begins with scarlet-clad guards searching the Parliament cellars for explosives, a reference to the 1605 gunpowder attack in which Roman Catholic rebels led by Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the building while the Protestant King James I was there.
The King will travel from Buckingham Palace to read the Golden Throne Speech in the House of Lords, the unelected upper house of Parliament. Monarchs have been banned from the House of Commons since King Charles I attempted to arrest lawmakers there in 1642 – an act of royal overreach that led to civil war and the temporary overthrow of the monarchy.
The speech will provide clues as to how the Conservatives plan to compete in an election scheduled by the end of 2024. The party has been in power since 2010, but opinion polls show the Conservatives trailing the opposition Labor Party by up to 20 points.
There will likely be a strong focus on law and order, an area where the Conservatives believe they have an advantage over Labor’s left-of-centre party. The speech announced harsher punishments for serious crimes, including prison sentences without parole under the motto “life means life” for some murderers.
There will also be legislation to implement Sunak’s plan to discourage new generations from smoking by gradually raising the minimum age to buy tobacco.
Several bills carry over from the last session, including one to strengthen protections for renters and a controversial plan to ban public entities from conducting “politically motivated boycotts against foreign countries” – a law aimed at stopping boycotts against Israel.
The government also plans to continue the rollback of environmental measures that Sunak began when he lifted a moratorium on oil and gas development in the North Sea in July. The speech will discuss plans for a law that would require new licenses for oil and gas drilling in the North Sea to be issued every year. The government argues this would reduce Britain’s dependence on foreign fuel and increase energy security.
Environmentalists and opposition parties say it will only make it harder for the UK to make the much-needed switch to renewable energy and meet its target of cutting the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
The king, a lifelong champion of green causes, is barred from expressing his opinion on the measures, which he will read out on behalf of “my government.”
Comments are closed.