Kerry McCarthy Labour MP for Bristol East
Today’s Queen’s Speech was a cynical stunt by Boris Johnson. He has no hope of getting this legislation through the current parliament, which means it amounts to little more than using the Queen to deliver a party political broadcast for the Conservative Party.
The proposals to reform adult social care are welcome, but we have been waiting for the Green Paper for a long time already, and we didn’t need a Queen’s Speech for that. The same could be said for the pledge to ‘continue work to reform the Mental Health Act’; I would support this in principle, but we need to see the substance first.
The new Environment Bill promises measures on air pollution, plastics, water quality and habitats, as well as establishing a new environmental regulator and introducing legally binding targets. I will do all I can – assuming we get to scrutinise it before an election is called – to ensure it’s as powerful as possible.
I will have more to say on what’s in the Queen’s Speech over the next few days, no doubt, and hope to speak in the debate on Thursday, when the theme is “the Climate Emergency”.
