LET us be honest. No one usually expects much from the King’s Speech laying out the Government’s legislative priorities. Often, it amounts to a shopping list, a series of dog whistles aimed at groups of voters, rather than a cohesive, comprehensive, positive platform. This year was no different.
What made it perhaps more disappointing than usual is the especially perilous state the United Kingdom is in after 13 years of Tory Brexit mistakes, austerity, misgovernment, poor leadership, economic stagnation and decline.
In this 2023 King’s Speech, we had no real vision, just tired platitudes. No sense of how the Government could begin to solve the myriad ills that afflict the country.
King Charles referenced 21 laws the Government wants to pass. Five shoutouts to “law and order” concerns were uppermost in the speech. Voters, understandably angry about crime, will like some of this messaging.
READ MORE: 'Insipid' King's Speech slated for 'abandoning Scots'
But of course, pledges of action are all very well. This same government is the author of 20% cuts in real terms to the police force since 2010. The reality is also of hundreds of closed courts in England and Wales, significant cuts to legal aid since 2012 and overcrowded prisons.
No-one is to blame for this erosion of our sense of public safety, our legal system, courts, and prisons but Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his cabinet colleagues; this depressing legal landscape is their creation.
The speech had plenty of empty phrases and filler. This reflects the UK Government’s lack of ideas on how to address the serious fundamental weaknesses in the UK economy, many of which are Brexit-related and self-inflicted open economic wounds, none of which can be admitted by the Government.
The Government has said what it will not do. It will not build transport links for our future. It will not promulgate policies to reach a greener tomorrow but instead roll back our goals, permit more oil drilling, which will pollute the air, and undermine the achievement of legally binding climate change commitments.
Continued Conservative government appears ready to march us backwards, and so shrivel our collective possibilities and opportunities.
What was conspicuously lacking for a shrinking little Britain was imaginative, forward-looking plans on how the country can and should be rebuilt and rejuvenated, after years of wrong-headed austerity, which commenced in 2010 (with a brief let up during the pandemic) and is now set to start back up again.
The last 13 years have provided a real-time economic experiment: austerity as a self-flagellating exercise (in the UK) versus Keynesian spending when private sector demand collapses (in the US). We can see and feel the results today.
The US economy is growing at 4.9%. The UK is growing at 0.5%, languishing near the very bottom of advanced economies, according to the IMF.
How badly are we doing? In 2022 Britons’ per capita income stood at $45,850 – below that of Mississippi, which is $46,370.
Poverty and destitution are increasing. Meanwhile, councils declare housing emergencies (like Edinburgh) and scores of towns and cities face bankruptcy as revenues shrink just as demand for essential statutory services rises.
UK export markets are shrinking and the outlook isn’t pretty, whatever make-up is applied. The prospects for young workers are shrunken and diminished. So much for “Global Britain”. The promised post-Brexit economic boom is a mirage, a Govian, Faragian delusion.
The years since Brexit are an exercise in denial of economic realities and their negative impacts across the country, on businesses, and our livelihoods. Voters are meant to stop “remoaning” about it and just keep calm and carry on.
READ MORE: King's Speech: Charles booed as he enters Westminster
Overall, this first speech at the opening of Parliament by King Charles was a lacklustre, unimaginative last gasp of a government out of ideas, out of cash and out of policy room to manoeuvre. It addressed very few of our actual economic problems.
If the current Prime Minister loses the election, as polls suggest is highly likely, rebuilding public services, the NHS, the police, our communities, local economies, our institutions, and our norms, will take at least a decade and probably longer.
Much as the person lost and seeking directions is told by a passerby “well, I wouldn’t start from here if I were you”, Britain will commence the journey from a bad position, and we will have a very challenging route ahead.
Let us hope that the national and devolved leaders who take up this mammoth task have greater vision and foresight than the current cabinet of underperforming, flailing figures.
Stuart PM Mackintosh is executive director of the Group of Thirty, an international body of financiers and academics.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel