A Queen’s Speech should be about more than playing politics

Director Will Tanner wrote for the Prospect Magazine on what the Government’s policies announced in the Queen’s speech means for broader politics. He writes:

“The government’s strategy relies on creating a wedge with the opposition, in the hope of reaping dividends come election time. Labour will almost certainly vote against these bills and the attack ads will write themselves. But the pursuit of short-term political wins over important structural reform carries its own risks. The absence of long-trailed reforms to employment law, corporate governance and pensions auto-enrolment could come back to bite. If there is a repeat of the Carillion collapse, or if gig economy workers are hit particularly hard by a future recession, for example, ministers may wonder why they did not make use of their handsome majority to fix known problems when they had the chance. 

Ultimately, however, it may not be what was announced in parliament yesterday but what was forecast by the Bank of England in Threadneedle Street last week which determines the Conservatives’ fortunes of the next election. The prospect of two years of spiralling inflation, a potential recession to curb it, and falling real wages when people are going to the ballot box does not bode well. We will have to wait for the chancellor’s next intervention to judge whether the government has a plan to deal with that.”

Read the full article here.