LONDON – Pomp, parade, swords and tiaras.
The Queen’s speech, which sets out the government’s legislative plan in the British Parliament, contains the whole drama.
What was missing this time was the Queen, who missed the case for only the third time in 59 years.
There was also a lack, at least according to opposition politicians and activists, of any new attempt to deal with financial pressure on households as a result of rising energy bills and inflation.
Blaming Conservatives for failing to boost economic growth, Labor leader Keir Starmer said public services were suffering and, as a result, “times are harder than they should be”.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, an anti-poverty charity, called the lack of new support measures “deeply worrying for low-income families”, while the Energy and Climate Unit think tank said immediate steps were better home insulation “seems to fall by the wayside.”
This comes as the country struggles with bleak economic prospects, after the Bank of England warned that the UK was facing a “sharp economic slowdown” this year and raised interest rates to try to stem rising prices.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hinted at the scale of the problem in introducing the Queen’s speech, which is delivered by the monarch – or her backup in this case – but is written by the government.
“It is right that we continue to do what we can to alleviate the burdens that people are struggling with now,” the preamble said, but stressed that this was not just a case of throwing money at the problem – “we must also We remember that for every pound of taxpayer money we spend on bills now, it’s a pound that we don’t invest in reducing bills and prices in the long run. “
The big question for Johnson is whether voters and his own MPs will wear it.
Some MEPs seemed optimistic about the lack of exposed economic aid, stressing that the main levers lay with the Ministry of Finance and that this was not a budget. Still, it was clear that this line would not be maintained until the autumn, when the next budget is scheduled.
A senior Tory, who praised the measures set for skills, mental health and the government’s promise to “equalize” opportunities across the country, said the queen’s speech would never be a means of financial support, but warned that an additional statement was needed. “Pretty soon” to meet the rising cost of living.
The former minister said that the argument that “we cannot spend our way out of the crisis with the cost of living” will feel very exhausted in the coming months as evidence of difficulties increases.
Johnson worried that the price of COVID was “huge” in his own speech later Tuesday, while fueling expectations that he would act on the cost of living sooner or later, leaving aside that he and Chancellor Rishi Sunak will be “we’ll talk more about that in the coming days.” This will do nothing to stop rumors in Westminster that the government is preparing an emergency budget for this summer.
However, in a sign that Sunak and his boss are not on the same page again, Finance Ministry officials poured cold water on the idea of an upcoming intervention, with one saying: “Budget schedules will be set in the usual way. There will be no emergency budget. “
The former minister, quoted above, predicts that anything announced before the autumn will miss the toughest, as Sunak’s preference is “to avoid anything that adds constant additional costs to social security, while showing that we support the “workers”.
The government regularly emphasizes that the current economic picture is determined at least in part by global challenges beyond its control, while some analysts believe we may be at the beginning of a longer-term restructuring.
Ben Zaranko of the Institute for Fiscal Research warned that “global energy shortages and price spikes could be something that makes us permanently poorer, but to say that the Chancellor must protect households and businesses from constant price changes. “First of all, he’s not very conservative, and secondly, you can’t do that forever.”
“What he could do, if he wanted to, is redistribute to help protect the economically most vulnerable,” he added.
This, of course, does not prevent Johnson from making choices about what or whom to prioritize when it comes to offering financial protection, and public expectations seem to be higher than ever.
Voters have become more supportive of higher government spending in recent years, especially in response to the pandemic, polls show.
Citing the party’s disappointing results in parts of the country’s local elections last week, a Conservative adviser said: “They tried to win [voters] accustomed to not being able to spend more, and voters told them to give up. “
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