Queen's Speech 2007

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Our View Unlock Democracy welcomes the government's commitment to bringing forward a bill on constitutional reform. Commenting Director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey said: “The Government’s commitment to giving Parliament greater powers is a welcome first step, but in and of itself will do little to span the growing divide between the people and politicians. We need a comprehensive review of British governance, and one in which the Government does not have control. We welcome the fact that almost 1-in-6 MPs from across the political spectrum supported our call for a Citizens’ Convention in the last Parliament and will be continuing this campaign over the coming months.” Commenting on the Queen’s announcement today of a Party Funding Bill, Peter Facey said: “We deplore the collapse of cross-party talks on funding last week. A Bill would at least ensure that progress on this can be made, but it will have less authority than it would have if it enjoyed cross party support. All the main parties agree on the principles established by Sir Hayden Phillips; we cannot allow this opportunity to be lost. The Government should introduce Sir Hayden’s proposals in full as a Bill and allow a free vote in both houses to decide.” Although there was some speculation that the the lack of reference to a Bill on House of lords reform meant the issue was not longer on the agenda, we are still expecting a white paper in early 2008. Although there is little chance of this becoming law in this session it is important for the government to make progress on this issue.

There was a lot less speculation this year, about what may or may not be in the Queen's Speech, as Gordon Brown led a debate at the end of the last session about what would be in the Queen's Speech. On the day the focus seemed to be on Jack Straw, the first Lord Chancellor who is not a member of the House of Lords handing the speech to the Queen.

Key proposals included:

• Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill

This draft Bill would set out proposals to implement commitments first put forward in the government’s green paper ‘The governance of Britain’ (July 3 2007). The Bill seeks to: rebalance power between parliament and government; give parliament more ability to hold government to account as well as clarify the role of government, both central and local.

• Draft Citizenship and Immigration Bill

The legislation will take forward any recommendations from the review of citizenship being led by former attorney general Lord Goldsmith.

• European Union Reform Treaty Bill

The legislation will allow the new EU treaty to have effect in UK law. The reform treaty was agreed to by the British government at the Informal European Council in Lisbon in October. The government has described the Reform Treaty as “required to enable the enlarged EU of 27 member states to work effectively.”

• Counter-Terrorism Bill

The Bill will include new measures to strengthen terrorist prosecutions and deal with terrorists after they have been charged. It will seek to ensure that the police and the intelligence services are given specific data sharing powers, as well as putting the police’s counter-terrorist DNA database on a similar footing to that of the national DNA database. Moreover, the Bill will increase the custodial sentences for convicted terrorists; extend the power available to police to seize terrorist assets and, finally, make it a requirement that convicted terrorists provide police with personnel information upon their release from prison.

• Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill

The Bill will establish the Local Better Regulation Office with the aim of bringing consistency to local authority enforcement. Specifically, the Bill will establish the Local Better Regulation Office, implement four of the recommendations of the Macrory Review, and, place a requirement on regulators not to impose or maintain unnecessary burdens.

Contents 1 Queen's Speech debate 1.1 Party Funding 1.2 Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill 1.3 Draft Citizenship and Immigration Bill 1.4 Counter-terrorism Bill 1.5 Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill 1.6 European Union Reform Treaty Bill

Queen's Speech debate

The House of Commons debated the bills contained in the Queen’s speech for several days after its announcement. The Prime Minister began the debate by summing up the intention of the proposed legislation by saying that

on energy, housing, pensions, education, work-life balance, citizenship and anti-terrorism measures, the central purpose of the legislative programme is to make the right long-term changes to prepare and equip our country for the future, and to meet the rising aspirations of the British people.

Liberal Democrat criticism was spearheaded by Vince Cable when he condemned the legislation, saying that the sense of anticlimax is deafening. We have heard little new, no ideas and little vision. Is that really what we were waiting for?

David Cameron argued that Gordon Brown was being short-termist, the main issue would be in

solving long-term problems, not short-term political tricks; a clear vision for the future, instead of a tired and cynical Prime Minister who has forgotten what he is trying to achieve; and consistent, strong leadership, instead of a weak Prime Minister who cannot stick to anything for longer than five minutes.

Party Funding

Following the breakdown of cross-party talks on funding, the Government is considering the position reached so far and the areas where consensus have been reached. Jack Straw, who was heading the Labour delegation, said

We greatly regret that these talks have been suspended as a result of the Conservative party's unwillingness to negotiate on a draft agreement...we had understood that all parties had thought in good faith that this draft agreement was the basis of a comprehensive settlement.

Francis Maude countered this by accusing Labour of being beholden to the unions, adding that The unions are running the Labour party from the back seat, giving them control over government policy.

Furthermore, in a debate in the House of Commons on November 7th, in response to Nick Herbert’s assertion that the reason the talks collapsed “is the fact that the Labour party cannot kick its dependency on trade union funding. He then added that

“We support a comprehensive cap on donations, to apply to individuals, companies and trade unions. The Labour party, however, is unwilling to give up the £8 million of affiliation fees.

To this, Straw countered that

the record will also show that it was a very late decision by the Conservative party leader to back away from a position on which we were very close to agreement that led to the talks being scuppered. The Conservative party was to blame, entirely and exclusively, for the collapse of those talks.

Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill

Jack Straw referred to the Draft Constitutional Renewal Bill in the House of Commons, saying

I hope that a consensus can be achieved on the constitutional renewal Bill, which is to be published later this Session. It will abolish arcane royal prerogative powers and ensure instead that Parliament has the final say over such fundamental decisions as the deployment of armed forces overseas and the ratification of treaties.

David Cameron linked Constitutional reform to the West Lothian Question by saying that the Conservatives

support having English votes for English laws, so that when purely English matters are discussed in the House it is Members of Parliament sitting for English seats who have the decisive say

David Heath, speaking for the Liberal Democrats, gave the bill a cautious welcome, commenting that the changes to the royal prerogative in terms of war-making powers are long overdue

Draft Citizenship and Immigration Bill

The citizenship aspect of the bill will be a vehicle for the findings of the review presently being lead by Lord Goldsmith, which is due to report to the Prime Minister in March 2008. It has so far not published any material. This lack of content drew stinging criticism from the Conservatives, Nick Herbert commenting that while the purpose of the bill is to carry forward the findings of the Goldsmith review, saying that

if we go to the Goldsmith review on citizenship, we find one small page on a website, telling us that citizenship is “an important common bond”- a profound observation, no doubt. Lord Goldsmith goes on to tell us that he needs the publics’ views in order to carry our his work and that the review will “will report to the Prime Minister in March 2008.

Andrew Stunell, speaking for the Liberal Democrats, said his party was tantalised by the reference to action on citizenship, then adding that any action on citizenship that is taken should pay especial regard to what the commission (on social cohesion, run by Hazel Blears) has said.

Counter-terrorism Bill

Jacqui Smith said that in bringing forward the Counter-terrorism bill she wanted to "act with proportion and precaution to address the threats that we face as a country."

She spelled out why she believes “the time is now right to consider the extension of pre-charge detention—the period of time available to police officers to investigate, gather the evidence and question in order to be able to charge—beyond the current limit of 28 days"

She also characterised the threat of terrorism to the UK as “growing in complexity and extent”.

However, this measure is controversial, drawing criticism from her own party, David Winnick saying that “compelling evidence” was needed to break the present consensus on the need for a 28 period, and that so far he has “not seen any such evidence.”

Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill

Outlining the aims of the bill in the House of Lords, Lord Jones of Birmingham said that it would“reduce regulatory burden on business” by establishing the Local Better Regulation Office, thus “bringing consistency to local authority enforcement.”

Speaking for the Liberal Democrats, Lord Cotter said he hoped that “the planned Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Bill does not become just another initiative among the many.”

Viscount Eccles, of the Conservatives, voiced concern that the Northern Rock debacle would undermine trust in the financial sector, as “London's position within the UK economy is a vital component”

European Union Reform Treaty Bill

Conservative Nick Herbert commented on “the constitutional outrage of a referendum being promised on the EU constitutional treaty but not delivered.”

His colleague Peter Luff also expressed concern on the matter by saying that “The treaty is the constitution by another name and we should, on the grounds of honour and trust alone, have a referendum."

Addressing the controversy in the House of Lords, Lord Haskel warned his colleagues about the dangers of protectionism, reminding them of “the support that we get from the Commission for an open economy.”