Conservative manifesto pledges absent from ‘Brexit Queen’s speech’
Wednesday 21 June 2017
THERESA May’s Queen’s speech shows a wounded Prime Minister operating on the backfoot, writes a University of Salford politics expert.
Writing in The
Conversation, Politics and Political Theory Lecturer Dr Ben Williams says
many of the Conservative Party’s key manifesto pledges are notably absent from
the speech, which focuses primarily on the Brexit negotiations beginning this
week.
He says that, while she called a snap General
Election in order to increase her majority and secure an electoral mandate,
this intention was not realised on June 8 and with her grip on the premiership
under increasing scrutiny from disgruntled backbenchers, she now stands before
Parliament as a much-weakened figure.
He writes: “With her electoral gamble having so
spectacularly backfired, the content of May’s legislative offering is now
notably reduced in its ambition and scope.
“Much of the original offering from the
Conservative manifesto has been stripped away – from social care funding
reforms to grammar schools. Some have gone as far as suggesting that a ‘zombie
Parliament’ lies ahead, in which no significant legislation is passed before a
new election takes place.”
He notes that controversial proposals to abolish
free infant school meals and for a free vote on foxhunting have also now
vanished, while proposals for social care and energy price reform appear to
have been put on hold.
However, he points out that the all-encompassing
issue of Brexit was the dominant theme of this Queen’s speech, with eight of
the 24 legislative bills relating to the UK’s exit from the EU.
He writes: “Overall, there is no doubt that Brexit
is the prevailing issue of the months and even years ahead, and this is
reflected in the 2017 Queen’s speech.
“It was the issue that Theresa May hoped would
swing the 2017 general election convincingly in the Conservatives’ favour, but
voters instead seemed to focus on growing concerns over public services and the
associated funding questions that have arisen over recent years.
“While there is no clear solution to such concerns
in these Parliamentary proposals, such public discontent could certainly grow
as Brexit negotiations progress. It’s therefore somewhat alarming that the
Queen’s speech so starkly illustrates the plight of a wounded prime minister
about to preside over Britain’s departure from the EU, with her newly exposed
domestic flank leaving both her and the country in a more vulnerable position
than ever abroad.”
Read the article in full here.
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