Queen’s Speech - quotes
A list of quotes relating to the Queen's Speech.
Below is a list of quotes relating to the Queen’s Speech.
Postal Services Bill
Business Secretary Vince Cable said:
We need to deal with the longstanding problems facing Royal Mail - the dependence on finance from the taxpayer, the deficit in the pension fund, the dramatic decline in the number of letters being sent. These fundamental challenges are becoming more thorny and deep-rooted. Letting them grow is not in the best interests of consumers, businesses or Royal Mail’s employees.
We are looking at all of the issues and options with a fresh pair of eyes, but are clear that an injection of private capital is important. As is making this work for employees by tackling the pension deficit and exploring opportunities to give workers a real share in the future of the company.
Energy Security and Green Economy Bill
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said:
The Queen’s Speech and last week’s programme of Government make clear that energy security and taking real action to tackle climate change aren’t add on extras for this new Government, but are vital to our national interest.
The energy security and green economy Bill is designed to help consumers put a stop to wasting energy in their homes through a green deal while making sure our energy system is fit for the 21st century.
Education and Children’s Bill
Education Secretary Michael Gove, said:
Teachers know how to run schools not bureaucrats or politicians. That’s why this Government is committed to giving all schools greater freedom. Many schools have already shown a keen interest in gaining academy freedoms. They want to use those powers to increase standards for all children and close the gap between the richest and the poorest.
Health Bill
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:
The Health Bill will enable us to devolve power to patients and the NHS professionals that serve them. This in turn will drive a healthcare system which delivers continuous quality improvements in standards of care. Our proposals will help cut waste, and achieve health outcomes that are amongst the best in the world.
Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill
Home Secretary Theresa May said:
We are committed to ensuring the police are free to spend more time in the community tackling crime and not tied up in red tape. Directly-elected police individuals will help shed bureaucracy and make forces more accountable to the people they serve.
This bill will ensure police have the powers they need to tackle anti-social behaviour, and will overhaul the existing licensing regime to tackle the drink-fuelled violence and disorder which blights many of our communities.
A dedicated Border Police Force will enhance our national security and strengthen immigration controls, bringing an end to inconsistent and disjointed policing at our ports and airports.
Localism Bill
Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said:
This important Bill would shift power from the central state back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils. It will empower local people giving them more power over local government.
It will free local government from central and regional control so that they can ensure services are delivered according to local needs. And it will enable local people to drive real change through a streamlined, more efficient planning system that encourages them to get involved in planning, housing and other local services.
Local Government Restructuring Bill
Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles said:
This urgent Bill would stop the unnecessary restructuring of councils in Norfolk, Suffolk and Devon that would lead to a massive upheaval in all the local councils in those county areas, diverting time and money away from improving frontline services.
Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:
This is landmark legislation that will fundamentally rebalance the relationship between the citizen and the state. The Bill will end illiberal and illegitimate government intrusions into people’s everyday lives; from regulating CCTV and rolling back the surveillance state, to restricting the storage of innocent people’s DNA, to restoring historic British freedoms like the right to peaceful protest.
Our plans will reverse the tidal wave of pointless criminal offences that have filled the statute books in recent years - and we’re calling on people to help us by telling us which unnecessary laws they want to see scrapped. The days of excessive state interference are over. Today marks the beginning of a new trust between government and the people we serve.
Identity Documents Bill
Home Secretary Theresa May said:
This bill will begin the process of reversing the erosion of civil liberties and restoring freedoms by abolishing identity cards and destroying the National Identity Register. We stand firm in our belief that government should hold the bare minimum of information and roll back state intrusion wherever possible.
European Communities (Amendment) Referendum Lock Bill
Foreign Secretary William Hague said:
This Government will be a positive, active and energetic player in the European Union. We will champion vigorously Britain’s interests in the European Union and we will work to make the European Union a success, concentrating its efforts on the shared challenges faced by the nations of Europe today.
Support for the European Union in Britain has fallen in the past thirteen years, so we will increase the public’s and Parliament’s control over the Government’s European activity. The bill on the European Union will ensure that any proposed future EU Treaty that transfers areas of power from Britain to the EU will be subject to a referendum: a referendum lock to which only the British people will hold the key. This will also cover joining the euro.
The new ratchet clauses will also require full parliamentary approval before they can be used and major ratchet clauses will be subject to a referendum. These measures will substantially improve democratic control, scrutiny and accountability over EU decision making.
House of Lords Reform and political party funding
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:
Today’s legislative programme contains plans to transform our politics beyond recognition. People will have a new right to sack MPs who are found to be corrupt; party funding will be reformed to get big money out of politics; action will finally be taken to drag the House of Lords into the 21st Century; and voters will be given a choice over replacing First Past the Post with a new voting system, as well as creating fewer, more equal sized constituencies, in a referendum.
Only bold, ambitious change will now restore people’s faith in our discredited political system. Today’s plans are a blueprint for a new politics - where power belongs to people.