This is more an election manifesto launch than a conventional Queen’s Speech, because Boris Johnson simply does not have the numbers in the Commons to legislate for all – or any – of the measures announced today.
At the risk of being sexist and aide-ist, the legislative programme shows the strong influence on the PM of the two people who seem most influential on him: his partner Carrie Symonds and his chief aide Dominic Cummings, with a package of environment and animal welfare measures (Symonds’ passion) and a bunch of stuff to reinforce the UK’s science and research (Cummings’s).
Otherwise it is the anticipated skeleton of a Johnsonian election manifesto: it is tough on crime (longer sentences for violent and sexual crimes, more information sharing between agencies and authorities to reduce knife attacks) soft on health and schools spending (mostly more money, with a nod at reforms, such as the creation of a new institution charged with investigating breaches of patient safety).
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