The King’s Speech earlier today saw the government’s plans summarised into 39 bills that they intend to set before parliament. In the immediate aftermath of the landslide victory on 4th July the government has been clear on two themes – growth and change. The King’s speech contained plenty on both.
Coming on the day that the latest inflation figures showed that the target of 2% is still being met, the focus for many people was on the elements of the speech focussed on growth and the economy. With finances strained and little room for manoeuvre on taxation and spending (if pre-election promises are to be kept) the government is betting big on kickstarting economic growth in the UK as the way of filling the Treasury coffers to meet their public spending ambitions.
With Greater Manchester already benefitting from greater devolved powers from Whitehall the English Devolution Bill looks set to deliver what the Deputy PM called the devolution revolution to more areas in the country and a series of other bills proposed around transport including the Railways Bill and a new High Speed Rail Bill look set to deliver more powers to GM and boost rail connectivity across the north of England. It isn’t HS2 reborn but is more meaningful than the facile document that was Network North.
The expected bill to formalise a new skill structure centred around Skills England featured though plans are still vague on what this will look like in reality. The intention though is to develop, through local growth plans and new industrial strategies the key local elements including ongoing connectivity between employers and providers to get the skillsrequired to kickstart growth.
The Great British Energy Bill will be one to keep an eye on with the formation of a new organisation, GB Energy, to help offset costs of energy whilst focussing on boosting renewable energy sources. This like GB Rail is a more interventionist proposal for a government committed to having ‘devolution as the default’ but even some issues such as these may need national level oversight and control in preference to local knowledge and powers.
There were a lot more bills contained in the speech and as and when they come through parliament we will keep a watch on them and take action where and when appropriate. It all sounds positive and continues the themes of change and taking action. Time will tell how successful these will be. Like previous such speeches in every parliament some of what was announced today will not see any progress anytime soon but the big ticket items mentioned above will probably be front and centre from now on as legislation starts to swing into place backing up those pre-election promises.