of Britain King Charles send it off Prime Minister Keir Starmer Wednesday’s legislative agenda promises a service government aimed at reviving the economy and addressing the acute housing shortage. cost of living crisis.
In front of an audience of robed lords and lawmakers, Charles read out the government’s priority laws since Starmer at a ceremony filled with cheers. center left Labor Party won a large majority in the elections held this month.
The package of more than 35 bills will focus on growing the economy, reforming planning laws to make it easier to build homes and speeding up major infrastructure projects, improving transport and creating jobs.
The king’s speech, written by the government, also sought to set a new tone for British politics, promoting service over self-interest, which Labor said had often been entrenched for 14 years. chaotic Conservative Party rule.
“My government will rule with service to the country,” Charles said, wearing a red and white robe and Imperial State crown.
“My government’s legislative program will be mission-led and based on the principles of security, justice and opportunity for all.”
Starmer won one of the largest parliamentary majorities in modern British history on July 4, making him the strongest national leader since then. former Prime Minister Tony Blair.
But it faces a number of tough challenges, including improving struggling public services with little room to spend more.
In an introduction to the proposed legislation, Starmer declared that “the era of politics over service and self-interest is over.”
But he also warned voters who might hope the new Labor government can fix things quickly Problems affecting Great Britain. “Rebuilding our country will not happen overnight. The problems we face require persistent, patient work and serious solutions,” he wrote.
“We will unlock growth and put the brakes on Britain by turning the page on the economic irresponsibility and widespread lack of forward-looking we have seen under a Conservative government.”
The government has announced laws to “speed up and simplify the planning process” to tackle England’s acute housing shortage and long delays in dog infrastructure projects.
With the Planning and Infrastructure Act, the government said it would limit the ability of local people to block new developments and would have “a democratic say on how houses and infrastructure are built, not how they are built”.
The government also plans to gradually re-nationalise the passenger rail network and set favorable fares to lure people back onto trains by handing over state control after private companies’ rail contracts expire.
The decision will largely reverse the privatization of the railways by the then Conservative government in the 1990s.
The speech also made clear the government’s desire to restore relations with the European Union after years of Brexit angst, with the king saying his ministers would “seek a new security pact to strengthen cooperation”.
It’s a goal Starmer could work towards when he hosts a meeting of the 40-plus-nation European Political Union in 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
After meetings at the NATO summit in Washington last week, Starmer and his team hope to continue those talks, although any talks on the security pact are likely to take place later in the year.