The Queen’s Speech debate

The Queen’s speech debate gives the government a great opportunity to set out a vision of a better future for the UK, and to specify those actions government needs to take to bring it about.

Let us assume that the overarching vision is one of recovery from the ravages of the anti pandemic policies. We will doubtless hear plenty about levelling up, and about building back better. It is important the message of Hartlepool and the other places where Conservatives polled well is understood by the government. Voters in these places aspire for a better future for themselves, their families and their towns. They are  not asking for more government. They are asking for more personal and family success. They are  not expecting the state to do everything for them. They want the opportunities to build their own futures. Of course they would like the state to do what only the state can do. It does  need to improve the public transport and roads systems, and improve the look and use of public sector land and buildings, In some cases it needs to sell clapped out and run down public sector estate to someone who can use it better.

Much of it requires the state to do less and to let people keep more of their own money. Many want to own a home of their own. They are not looking for more social housing where they are told where to live and how the property will look and be maintained. More people want to get to retirement with a home they own and no rent bills to pay as pensioners.

Many people recognise they cannot work in a council office or a government administrative job. They want more chance to become self employed and build a decent business, or more better paid jobs in the private sector where they might get a   bonus or even a share participation. They see others elsewhere make capital out of their business ventures as well as enjoying a decent income. Aspiration includes working for yourself, building some capital, getting some savings so you have more options and more freedoms.

So what policies and laws does this need? It does mean lower tax rates so people can keep more of what they earn and save. It does mean government helping business to provide more affordable homes for sale. It does mean an exercise to remove barriers and costs to setting up and running your own business. It means government using its massive buying power to source more at home and less from abroad, to encourage local business successes. It means Councils who provide good public services, keep the public realm tidy,  but let the private sector get on with providing a wide array of goods and services to enrich lives and create more well paid livelihoods.

219 Comments

  1. Mark B
    May 11, 2021

    Good morning

    Nice sensible Conservative views. Shame it is that we do not have a Conservative Government to implement them.

    I do not know what ‘Build Back Better’ means, but it looks suspiciously like a policy for more government intervention. Build what and for whom ? Better ? By what measure are we using ? Then there is ‘Leveling Up !. To me that is naked Socialism.

    So yeah, let us do all that our kind host mentions, it’s just that we need to vote in a Centre Right Party that aspires to do all those things and more.

    1. Dave Andrews
      May 11, 2021

      Levelling up is for offshore and global companies, who enjoy effective lower tax rates because they can squirrel their profits outside of the country out of HMRC reach. Levelling down is for UK companies who have to pay the full whack of tax.

      1. Lifelogic
        May 11, 2021

        Then to watch this full “whack of tax” being generally pissed down the drain on green crap, HS2 and big government by Boris and Sunak, thus rendering many businesses uncompetitive in world terms or pushing them to give up or overseas too.

      2. nota#
        May 11, 2021

        @Dave Andrews. Its Government policy to cause those that can’t afford the tax to pay for those that are able to avoid it.
        ‘Freeports’ are the mechanism to get the honest ‘taxpayer’ to fund the infrastructure, health, education etc of those that wish enjoy its benefits but avoid contributing to it. Which is why some Nations will not permit ‘trade’ from companies that play that card.

    2. Sharon
      May 11, 2021

      Mark B

      Hear, hear!

    3. MiC
      May 11, 2021

      With the preposterous residential property price bubble – stoked relentlessly by the Tories – they are the very ones putting home ownership beyond the reach of a very great many people.

      Of course people would rather own than rent, but many do not stand a chance.

      1. NickC
        May 11, 2021

        Martin, The preposterous residential property price bubble is caused by an imbalance in supply and demand. So, either we must have more housing built, or we must send some immigrants home in order to reduce demand. I prefer the latter because England is already the most overcrowded large European country. Indeed any country which cannot – at a pinch – feed itself is overcrowded.

        1. Fedupsoutherner
          May 11, 2021

          Quite right Nick C. Just where are alleged these illegals going to be housed? I see in the Queens speech that illegal migrants will not be allowed to stay in the UK. Let’s just wait and see how many get returned. This governments record isn’t great.

        2. MiC
          May 11, 2021

          Sorry, there are over six hundred thousand empty homes, and a similar number of unbuilt planning permissions, we read. The developers also own an untold amount of brownfield pending applications, but would rather strangle supply, it appears.

          Anyway, we have streets of houses for one pound each in Liverpool, in County Durham, and elsewhere. This would seem to prove that local market outlook – coupled with ever laxer credit – and not general UK population pressure, is the main determinant of property prices.

          If population were the prime reason for high residential property prices, then why did they fall sharply between 2008 and 2011, while it was still steadily growing, just as previously?

          1. Peter2
            May 11, 2021

            MiC
            It just proves there is a wide ranging market for property in the UK

          2. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            Thank you for confirming that supply and demand determine house prices, Martin. That’s why you can get a house for a pound in Liverpool, but a similar house in London might be half a million pounds.

        3. Mike Wilson
          May 11, 2021

          @NickC

          Martin, The preposterous residential property price bubble is caused by an imbalance in supply and demand.

          Sorry, but that is completely wrong. It is, at most, a minor factor. Are there no houses for sale? Of course there are. Hundreds of thousands of them. And does every house have multiple would be buyers outbidding each other?

          The reason house prices keep going up and up and up is because banks are allowed to create money out of thin air as loans. And 80% of the money they create is lent as mortgages. And to protect their existing loans, they keep lending more and more money against the same housing stock. What a racket.

          Hose prices are set at the margins.

          1. No Longer Anonymous
            May 11, 2021

            Maybe it is a fact that land in a temperate climate with good laws, well enforced (by comparison) enjoying plentiful water is becoming a sought after global commodity and that’s why our house prices keep on rising.

          2. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            Mike, There are well over 9 million people in the UK who were not born here. If even half of them went home, are you contending there would be no effect on house prices? One and a half million empty properties will have far more influence than a few hundred thousand up for sale – which is mainly people up or down sizing.

            It is a fact that supply and demand governs the price of every good, including houses. Demand is, of course, itself influenced by many factors – principally the general state of the economy, including inflation, but also minor factors such as the availability of local jobs, the desirability of the area, and the ease of obtaining mortgages.

      2. oldwulf
        May 11, 2021

        @MiC
        You are right.

        The Government has used our money to “stoke” the residential property market.
        Of course, the main beneficiaries of this have been:
        the developers – who have made good profits
        the banks and other lenders – reduced exposure to negative equity/bad debts
        the government – higher values = more taxes (subject to some temporary and permanent tax reliefs)

      3. Peter2
        May 11, 2021

        MiC
        A quick search on Zoola brings up 2,474 properties for sale in and around Cardiff at a price of ÂŁ150,000 or less.
        5095 in Birmingham
        8083 in Liverpool
        Over 10,000 in Manchester

        1. MiC
          May 11, 2021

          I’ve got plenty of property thanks, Peter.

          Have a word with Nick, eh?

          He seems to think that immigrants have snapped it all up.

          1. Peter2
            May 11, 2021

            Good diversionary attempt MiC
            But a total fail.
            There are thousands of properties for sale in major cities at well under ÂŁ150,000 as Zoopla showed.

          2. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            Martin, There are over 9 million people in the UK who are not born here. That’s an awful lot of houses and flats, if they went home.

      4. Mike Wilson
        May 11, 2021

        House prices, on average, tripled between 1997 and 2007. Under ….. New LABOUR! In some areas of the North house prices went up five fold pricing locals out of their market as properties were bought up by an army of new Buy To Let warriors.

        All governments both allow and enable house price inflation.

    4. NickC
      May 11, 2021

      Remember, Mark B, under “Build Back Better” (The Great Reset) you will “own nothing, and be happy” according to Herr Schwab. It is the essence of hate-filled socialism. And Boris Johnson has succumbed to it.

      1. Mitchel
        May 11, 2021

        Here is something very ominous from William Hague a few weeks ago:-“In the past the UK has been willing to use armies to secure and extract fossil fuels.But in the future,armies will be sent to ensure oil is not drilled and to protect natural environments.”

        Volunteers required for Wee Willie’s new Grande Armee to invade Russia!

    5. Bryan Harris
      May 11, 2021

      ‘Build Back Better’

      is the phase used around the world by all leaders that intend to jointly execute the GREAT RESET.
      It’s supposed to be a new start – It will if it goes ahead bring in features of the UN agenda 2130.

      This will include things like sustainable populations, heavily controlled use of energy, and a totally green approach to life.

      It will not be a world worth living in.

    6. Peter
      May 11, 2021

      ‘It is important the message of Hartlepool and the other places where Conservatives polled well is understood by the government.’ A cynic would take the view that we are currently in a one party state and Labour are finished.

      So the Queens Speech will probably offer more of the same. ‘Build back better’ and all the other slogans, plus more state control under the guise of the pandemic.

    7. Hope
      May 11, 2021

      +1

      Fake Tories have shown Queen’s speech is just a ceremonial occasion with no real purpose any more. Many examples like Gay marriage not in manifesto or Queen’s speech. UK was meant to have left EU, Brexit done we were told, once again, in stark contrast by stealth making ties to the EU stronger by securing electric from it making the UK dependent on EU! The UK has the ability to generate its own energy.

      This in turn makes it impossible for UK control of fisheries to be taken back? Is the Queen going to formally give away N.Ireland to the EU as well as territorial waters? Johnson’s EU friends and partners who block live saving vaccines to UK citizens and blockade Jersey! Johnson’s response cave in and give them vaccines and send some to Australia because EU blocked them as well!

      Shame on your party and govt using the Queen to further your govts deceit. I wonder if vote leaving Hartlepool is aware of strengthening EU ties against their wishes?

    8. glen cullen
      May 11, 2021

      Spot On, Mark B
      Today will be about virtue signalling, levelling up, level playing field, green revolution, covid success, the need to tax more, we’re all in it together
..I’d be surprised if brexit, immigration, fisheries, support for SME, self-employed, or NI gets a mention

    9. turboterrier
      May 11, 2021

      Mark B

      Well said Mark.

    10. Lifelogic
      May 11, 2021

      Indeed Boris & Sunak have become appalling, tax, borrow and piss down the drain, climate alarmist, anti-libertarian socialists. Will they go for an early election before the proverbial hits the fan?

      Jill Mortimer MP for Hartlepool seems a pleasant enough lass despite reading law (Teeside Uni.) but is full of the usual unscientific clean energy guff. The last thing people in Hartlepool (or anywhere else) want is rip off, intermittent energy, expensive electric cars and expensive Jill Mortimer heat pumps. Do not later say you were not told Boris, Jill, Sunak.. – on Mike Graham today.

      1. Lifelogic
        May 11, 2021

        Interestingly one place where heat pumps can make some sense is in electric cars (in cold weather) to heat the vehicle using less of the battery (and this saving some of the very limited cost weather range). Not as sensible as diesel or hybrid cars though).

        1. Lifelogic
          May 11, 2021

          cold not cost!

      2. Fedupsoutherner
        May 11, 2021

        L/L. I wrote to my MP about wind energy as it seems Shropshire and our glorious hills are to be targeted by greedy wind developers. Having seen first hand the carnage created by these turbines in Scotland I pointed out that we didn’t want it here. I received a copy of a Scottish ministerial letter pumping up the great benefits of wind energy and prattling on about how the public support it. I wonder if they would support it if they knew the long term damage it does and the eye watering costs involved? Look out, with planning regulations changing you might be lucky enough to get a large, subsidised noisy wind farm near you giving out intermittent power for exorbitant money.

        1. Lifelogic
          May 11, 2021

          Indeed they make very little sense, even if you do believe in the CO2 devil gas religion. After the construction energy used, the net work cable connections and the back ups needed to cope with intermittency they might just about save a little CO2 I suppose. This while they are chopping up many bats and birds of prey and destroying the view and the environment.

  2. agricola
    May 11, 2021

    Yes SJR, you lay out a series of aspirational desires that I have no problem with. However the time has come for specifics.

    ” My government, during the next year will completely overhaul and simplify the tax system with the aim of allowing my people to retain much more of their earnings, and companies likewise to invest in the expansion of their enterprises, additionally such that overseas companies are encouraged to operate and incorporate in my United Kingdom”.
    There is much else she could be specific about, understanding that she is reiterating government intent not writing a manifesto. The NI Protocol removal, a ticking time bomb for sure. Fishing, financially insignificant, except for fishermen, but politically a very hot potato that resonates with the majority in the UK who demonstrate no great desire for fish. The wokery of the metro elite that destroys much of what we hold dear. The news and current affairs,left wing propaganda department of the BBC that has overstayed its welcome and should be cast into the commercial world.
    How about, ” My government will end further education tuition fees for all pupils aspiring to professions we need in the fields of medecine, science, snd engineering in its widest sense”.

    When I hear all the above from our dear monarch I will know we are on our way to a turbo charged recovery.

    1. Sharon
      May 11, 2021

      Agricola

      +1

    2. SM
      May 11, 2021

      I would certainly vote for that manifesto, agricola, most particularly for the simplification of the tax regime and for free tertiary education (with provisos) for the professions you mention.

    3. glen cullen
      May 11, 2021

      Excellent piece Agricola

    4. forthurst
      May 11, 2021

      It would be better to stop tertiary education for those categories as Boris Johnson has made it clear that he intends to import a professional class from India as part of his ‘Trade deal’; in fact it might be better to abolish tertiary education for all because Johnson can import his governing class to supplement those that he has appointed to all senior offices of state.

      What will the English do? Farmers can retrain as gardeners as there will be no agricultural land after it has all been built over for the benefit of Johnson’s new Britons and our engineers and scientists can retrain as plumbers and electricians to service their needs. The only legal change will be the need to abolish the General Medical Council.

    5. jerry
      May 11, 2021

      @agricola; ” The news and current affairs,left wing propaganda department of the BBC that has overstayed its welcome and should be cast into the commercial world.”

      Yet the commercial world is even worse, example Ch4 here in the UK, and all number of broadcasters in the USA. That said, I do think the BBC’s news and current affairs output has become to ‘preachy’, a bit like the non-broadsheet newspapers who keep proclaiming victory for some otherwise national campaign or other. The question we need to ask before anything, is the BBC leading of simply following the tide, casting the BBC into the commercial world might actually be throwing the baby out rather than the filthy bathwater!

      At the moment the BBC can, if push come to shove, be regulated by way of its Royal Charter, next renewal being in 2026…

      1. agricola
        May 11, 2021

        With respect Jerry we are not forced to pay for any of the alternatives you cite. If sufficient find them abhorant, they can stop watching, the advertising revenue goes down and the station goes out of business.
        The filthy bathwater from the BBC is their news and current affairs department. The balance produces some credible work if a bit left of centre at times.
        They have weathered the demands of their charter to date, I do not see 2026 as the date the tide changes and enlightenment descends.

        1. jerry
          May 11, 2021

          @agricola; With respect, please learn the different between commercial and subscription, many people are forced to fund the former, even those who do not own a TV. The idea that viewer ratings affects advertising is well past its sell by date, many minority interest channels still get big name advertisers, all ratings affects is how much airtime costs.

          The best way to control filthy bathwater is via regulation, but of course many on the right hate such regulation as it would also stop their own filthy bathwater – you appear to want to stop only the bias you do not like, I want to stop ALL bias…

          “I do not see 2026 as the date the tide changes and enlightenment descends.”

          Well of course, when the real goal is not regulation but extinction.

        2. Peter2
          May 11, 2021

          You won’t win agricola
          Jerry has the only view on the BBC that is correct.
          Give up he will keep posting until you get tired.

          1. jerry
            May 12, 2021

            @Peter2; Facts win arguments, not partisan political dogma…

    6. Peter Wood
      May 11, 2021

      Agricola,
      YES to the first part, but needs a commensurate REDUCTION in spending, ie An obligation to ‘current year expenditure to be no more than current year expenses, perhaps. (Capital expenditure to be financed over useful life of asset) Simple stuff, but novel for ANY UK government.

      I’d go for a couple of key policies: self sufficiency in energy and, as far as possible, in food. Make defence spending go on DEFENCE, not foreign expeditions. Stop all foreign aid until we have a government current account surplus. Plan to terminate the EU withdrawal agreement/NI Protocal and EU Trade deal within a year.

      1. Peter Wood
        May 11, 2021

        correction …..current year tax receipts.. NOT ‘current year expenses’

  3. Grey Friar
    May 11, 2021

    Great that you want the state to do less. I look forward to you voting against the totalitarian idea we need photo ID to vote

    1. Richard1
      May 11, 2021

      I can’t think who would be against this unless they thought the vote for the parties they support will reduce as cheating is stopped. You need ID for all sorts of things, picking up a package, getting on a plane. Of course we need to make sure people who vote are entitled to do so and vote once and not more.

      1. jerry
        May 11, 2021

        @Richard1; “I can’t think who would be against [voter ID]”

        But it will not be just the fraudulent voter who gets stopped but many who do not have suitable (photo) ID, and have no other reason to have such ID. Then there are those who fear it could be used to trace votes, usually the same people who fear voter ID is a route to compulsory ID card carrying..

        1. Richard1
          May 11, 2021

          Lame excuse. almost all countries other than the US and the UK require ID for voting

          1. jerry
            May 11, 2021

            @Richard1; Those ‘other countries’ all to often have a compulsory national ID card system, often with the need to carry it at all time (being fined if you can not produce it on demand), but that is not what you seem to be asking for is it…

      2. MFD
        May 11, 2021

        +1 Richard1

        But we also need rid of postal voting, its a hard left tool for voter fraud

        1. jerry
          May 11, 2021

          @MFD; Postal votes are not ‘left wing fraud’, they are a necessity for those who work away from their home area, and for countless disabled people, many would not be able to cast their vote otherwise. The unthinking hard right might actually come to regret should postal voting be banned, after all hard working people and the elderly are far more likely to vote for right wing parties!

          1. Peter2
            May 11, 2021

            Hard right..more nonsense Jerry
            Debate you said.
            Don’t resort to clichĂ©s

          2. jerry
            May 11, 2021

            @Peter2; Context really is not your strong subject, is it…
            Try reading the comment I was replying to, don’t want me to use the term ‘hard right’, best then others do not use terms like “hard left”.
            Or is this just another example of the ‘Do as we say, not as we do’ clichĂ©?…

          3. Peter2
            May 11, 2021

            The postal vote options you stated Jerry are reasonable reasons for needing one.
            But allowing it as a general alternative to turning up in person is wrong.

            PS
            It was you who wrote the words hard right not me

        2. Richard1
          May 11, 2021

          Well I actually use it myself – if you don’t know where you will be on polling day its essential

      3. Fedupsoutherner
        May 11, 2021

        Good reply Richard. As you say, there are many things we need ID for now so I can’t see what people are moaning about. They don’t moan when having to produce their passports at airports and hotels.

    2. agricola
      May 11, 2021

      A national ID card would remove the need of those administering elections the need to check electoral rolls ,passport details, bank cards, store cards, driving licences, birth certificates, CCTV, and mobile location records. All of which have more of a totalitarian ring about them than an ID card that says who you are and where you live. You would be amazed at the commercial use , of no benefit to yourself, that is made of all the cards that you hold in your wallet.

      1. jerry
        May 11, 2021

        @agricola; Indeed, a persons bank card probably holds, or is linked to, more information than a simple national photo ID card, but then the banks are not the State (despite the best efforts of the banksters in the early years on this century)…

      2. Mockbeggar
        May 11, 2021

        I am who I say I am and no-one should dis-believe me without good reason.

    3. MiC
      May 11, 2021

      Yes, the electoral authorities have analysed that voter impersonation is a *negligible* problem in the UK.

      It is an excuse, not a reason.

      The reason is voter suppression, as US civil rights groups warn.

      1. dixie
        May 11, 2021

        So the solution is proper identity assurance and the banning of postal votes

        1. MiC
          May 11, 2021

          Those tired, hackneyed allegations collapsed in Peterborough.

          Your lot could not find a scrap of admissible evidence – as neither could Trump’s.

          1. Peter2
            May 11, 2021

            It wasn’t correctly nor properly investigated in my opinion.
            I presume I am allowed to have one eh Jerry?

      2. SecretPeople
        May 11, 2021

        The greater problem is the security (or lack) of postal voting. If tackling voting fraud or interference had been the intention the government and EC would have started there.

    4. NickC
      May 11, 2021

      Grey, I shall certainly vote against national ID cards. But, as is typical on the left, you confuse the state doing something – such as running the railways – with the rule of law which is a prerequisite of any and every social and business contract. Proving you are entitled to vote, in order to prevent vote fraud, is part of the body of law to ensure voting is equitable.

    5. Peter Parsons
      May 11, 2021

      Indeed.

      David Davis has described this as “an illiberal solution to a non-existant problem”.

      Matt Hancock admitted that the number of cases of voter impersonation at the last election was 6.

      I might, just might, have a little bit more sympathy for this if everyone’s vote actually counted for something, but under FPTP, millions of voters have votes which serve no purpose. If someone tried to fraudulenty use my vote, the first thing I would do is question their sanity.

      1. dixie
        May 12, 2021

        Hancock might claim the number of identified and proven cases was six, but there is no id verification and so it is impossible to accurately quantify illegal votes.

    6. a-tracy
      May 11, 2021

      We will be getting photo ID one way or another Grey, I had to scan my passport photo in to register with the online doctor! It took me so long to sort it out I gave up.

      Track and trace isn’t a complete waste, the digital tracking of infected clusters is down to the postcode people that test positive or need treatment live in. They will eventually get everyone through health passports.

    7. MiC
      May 11, 2021

      Yes, GF.

      Here’s a nice retro:

      “If I am ever asked,” Boris Johnson once wrote of ID cards, “on the streets of London, or in any other venue, public or private, to produce my ID card as evidence that I am who I say I am, when I have done nothing wrong and am simply ambling along and breathing God’s fresh air like any other freeborn Englishman, then I will take that card out of my wallet and physically eat it in the presence of whatever emanation of the state has demanded I produce it.”

      I think that we should hold him to that.

      1. a-tracy
        May 12, 2021

        MiC when did he say it? Recently?
        Have you never in your life been persuaded to change your mind, Martin?

      2. NickC
        May 12, 2021

        Martin, “ambling along and breathing God’s fresh air like any other freeborn Englishman” is not the same as going to vote. Voter ID is essential to prevent vote fraud, and to help obviate the local cleric filling out the ballot paper for you.

  4. oldtimer
    May 11, 2021

    From the leaks it appears to include more delivery of Johnson’s woke agenda. The campaign to stop us eating meat and fish will get a legal boost – the thin end of what will become a very thick wedge. If MPs think that will win them votes they should think again.

    1. NickC
      May 11, 2021

      Oldtimer, You have my vote. Whatever gets into the heads of these politicians? Boris Johnson cannot even run his own life properly, never mind mine.

    2. jerry
      May 11, 2021

      @oldtimer; Yes indeed, and interesting words from a senior Labour MP yesterday, conceding that the party had “talked down” at people far to much, telling them how to live their own lives, yet this is exactly what New Labour copied from the Tories in the 1990s and what Boris is still doing!

      I see there will have to be another by-election, the sitting MP having been elected Mayor of West Yorkshire, and this time not a Brexit heartland, thus a better test of party policies/popularity?

      1. NickC
        May 11, 2021

        Wrong again, Jerry. The Referendum result was counted for the whole of “Kirklees” which covers 4 constituencies. Kirklees voted c55% to Leave. So if one constituency voted Remain (likely Colne Valley, at c51%), the other constituencies were even more likely to be Leave. Dr Chris Hanretty (UEA) has estimated the vote by constituency, with ‘Batley and Spen’ likely the highest vote to Leave at c60%. See the report in the local paper there (The Examiner).

        1. MiC
          May 11, 2021

          Like same sex marriage, brexit is done and dusted – the latter’s rubbish, but it’s done. I don’t care either way about the first, but it doesn’t harm others so I’ll let people get on with it.

          Why should these voters care more about what candidates thought at the time about the second than the first?

          They’re both dead issues.

          You seem to be fixated.

          1. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            My comment was nothing to do with Brexit per se, it was about Jerry’s incorrect guess about how one constituency voted. Brexit is not over until we have Northern Ireland, and our fish, back. And you seem to be even more fixated on Brexit than I am.

        2. jerry
          May 11, 2021

          @NickC; …and smoked haddock is ÂŁ10 per Lbs. The people of the Batley and Spen constituency still cast their vote at the referendum, however, where-ever, the ballot papers were counted. The likelihood of that constituency being a heartland of Brexit or not can be judged by the general election returns – especially those from 2015, before ‘events’ quite possible changed voting intent.

          1. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            What has the price of smoked haddock got to do with it, Jerry? Unless it’s another of your bobbing and weaving attempts to obfuscate after your opinion is found to be false? You guessed, wrongly, about one constituency’s Referendum voting, and I corrected you. Nor was Batley and Spen’s Leave voting constrained by party affiliation – another of your red herrings – sorry, smoked haddocks.

      2. jerry
        May 11, 2021

        I note this govt now expects people to herd cats, according to the content of the Queens speech, says it all…

    3. turboterrier
      May 11, 2021

      Oldtimer
      Is it really too much to expect some joined up thinking from our leader and his team?
      Ooooops forgot he is a team of two and one wasn’t elected .
      Will we ever get a real tory party back which can understand and have faith in?

  5. GilesB
    May 11, 2021

    It needs an Education system which engenders aspirations, confidence, and clear thinking.

    Not a system that corrupts young minds with leftist propaganda such as ‘Smash heteronormativity’, pretends that everyone’s opinion are as valid as objective truths, embeds entitlement, derides self-sufficiency, and creates expectations that dependency on the state is a good thing.

    1. J Bush
      May 11, 2021

      +1 for the leftist propaganda corrupting young minds.

    2. MWB
      May 11, 2021

      Who is to provide the education though, the woke lefty teaching trade ?

  6. DOM
    May 11, 2021

    People are walking into a trap. You are not the Conservative Party. They vote for you because you aren’t Labour not because you are the Conservative Party.

    You are a party of Socialism. Of Progressive politics obsessed with race and gender and the strategies designed to remodel humanity and the creation of a culture in which voice is removed and identity is crushed

    Why have you betrayed your own party’s beliefs to pander to the Marxists and their CRT ideology? Is this what the people of Hartlepool want? Daily doses of racially and gender infused propaganda beamed into their living rooms every night?

    I can see deceit like most on here. Using sovereign debt to finance authoritarianism on a grand scale has been used before in Germany and in the Soviet Union. Using resources that our ours the despotic State rolls out its monitoring and oppression to target any perceived threat real or not

    Your party is grossly offensive as it seeks to rebrand itself in a most desperate attempt to move away from your history.

    I resent the BBC’s attempt to demonise white people using terms like ‘far right’ to describe them. It is unacceptable. They slander the good people of the UK and your party allows it to protect itself

    1. J Bush
      May 11, 2021

      +1
      I gave up TV over 15 years ago and from what I hear/read I made the right decision.

    2. Everhopeful
      May 11, 2021

      + spot on!

    3. NickC
      May 11, 2021

      Dom, Whilst I might not use such intemperate language, I agree with your sentiments. You may even be right about the language too, unfortunately. There is a headline in today’s Telegraph (paywalled) “The Tories stonking super-majority is built on sand”. From authoritarianism, to identity politics, to global warming claptrap, the Tory party is headed in the wrong direction.

      1. J Bush
        May 11, 2021

        Agreed. Their arrogance is already noted and being criticised.

    4. glen cullen
      May 11, 2021

      Your first sentence is spot on, and what’s sad is that this government doesn’t care so-long as they get the vote……even if by deception

    5. a-tracy
      May 11, 2021

      I agree Dom lots of people I know are voting against Labour rather than pro this conservative party. Boris needs to start proving his detractors wrong.

      I also agree with you – the party turning a blind eye to the media ‘far right’ demonisation of tory voters is not good enough.

    6. Mitchel
      May 11, 2021

      The BBC and Establishment generally are very selective in their disapproval of the Far Right and Neo-Nazism.On the day before the media gave widespread coverage to a British policeman being jailed for membership of a banned organization a couple of weeks ago,There was a neo-nazi march through Kiev,glorifying the SS Galicia division.Despite protests from Germany and Israel,there was silence from the globalist media organs of the west-and their governments.

      1. MiC
        May 11, 2021

        Perhaps you now understand why Russia might have given Ukraine – and Hungary for that matter – a bit of a hard time now and then?

        Wouldn’t want that, would we?

    7. Jim Whitehead
      May 11, 2021

      DOM +1

  7. Denis Cooper
    May 11, 2021

    How much of the Queen’s Speech will be applicable to Northern Ireland?

    I realise that Her Majesty is technically still the Queen of Northern Ireland, the sovereign, but on the advice of her ministers led by Boris Johnson she has agreed to share sovereignty of that part of her kingdom with the EU, in the first instance with the EU Commission, so effectively turning what was previously considered as a province of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland into a condominium:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condominium_(international_law)

    “A condominium … in international law is a political territory (state or border area) in or over which multiple sovereign powers formally agree to share equal dominium (in the sense of sovereignty) and exercise their rights jointly, without dividing it into “national” zones.”

    As this is the first Queen’s Speech since that arrangement came into full effect, surely we have to ask how much of it will only be applicable to that part of the United Kingdom with the consent of the EU?

    1. Denis Cooper
      May 11, 2021

      Here’s an interesting read:

      https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-waiver-for-duty-on-goods-that-you-bring-to-northern-ireland-from-great-britain

      “Claim a waiver for duty on goods that you bring to Northern Ireland from Great Britain”

      “Find out how to claim a waiver if you are bringing goods into Northern Ireland from Great Britain which might otherwise be charged ‘at risk’ tariffs.”

      Daft as it is, the presumption is that any goods imported into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, or other “third countries”, will just be passing through on their way to the Irish Republic and thus into the precious EU Single Market, and it is up to the importer to show that his goods are an exception to that general rule and ask for the EU customs duties to be waived.

      I can no longer recall offhand all the details of Theresa May’s daft Chequers scheme that precipitated the resignation of Boris Johnson in July 2018, just that it was equally daft but that its inherent daftness was not why the EU rejected it:

      https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2019/02/08/the-eu-talks-are-not-going-anywhere-lets-table-a-free-trade-agreement/#comment-994295

      “Which proposal M Barnier rejected on the grounds that he could not trust us to do it properly, once we were no longer “subject to the EU governance structures”.”

      1. NickC
        May 11, 2021

        Denis, Count me in to your crusade. Many people are very concerned about Northern Ireland remaining partly in the EU. So far we haven’t even got Boris Johnson’s government to admit the truth, still less remedy it. The NIP must be scrapped.

        1. Andy
          May 11, 2021

          The NIP is apparently the will of the people. If you voted Tory in December 2019 you voted for it.

          1. Denis Cooper
            May 11, 2021

            I didn’t vote Tory in December 2019, but even if I had voted Tory then it would not have meant that I wanted to break up the country. The question is how many Tory MPs knew what they were voting for when they did as they were bid by Boris Johnson.

          2. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            When people vote at general elections, Andy, they do not vote to endorse every policy, but for a basket of policies. Some of which they may object to, but have to accept on balance. Of course, if Remain had accepted our Referendum vote, there would have been no need to have the Brexit decision endorsed by subsequent general elections. And that is why referendums are better – it allows a genuine choice on one particular policy.

        2. Denis Cooper
          May 11, 2021

          The judicial review starts on Friday, maybe that will push Boris Johnson in the right direction.

          https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/05/11/news/ben-habib-will-meet-protocol-challenge-court-costs-if-crowdfund-fails-to-hit-150k-target-2316970/

          I think the case will turn on whether Parliament intended to put the integrity of the UK at risk.

      2. Mockbeggar
        May 11, 2021

        As with my earlier comment to Agricola above about ID cards. Goods moved from Great Britain to Northern Ireland for use in Northern Ireland should need no checks by any third party without good reason to suspect hat they are destined to be smuggled into the EU.

        1. Alan Jutson
          May 11, 2021

          +1

        2. a-tracy
          May 11, 2021

          There are less than 2 million people in Northern Ireland, if a high number of products suddenly started to go suspiciously into Northern Ireland without local consumption it would stand out like a light bulb, and the fines for the Northern Irish company moving things over the border would be so high the risk wouldn’t be worth it. So it is just political.

      3. Lifelogic
        May 11, 2021

        Indeed I often wonder how much time is used up by millions of people reading (or paying other to read) the vast volume of government guidance, tax laws, planning regulations, sipps, building regs, save to buy, lifetime isas, endless other new schemes and all the rest of the drivel that is churned out. It is a wonder any business people have time to do anything else. Just ditch 99% of this damaging red tape and market manipulation. It does far more harm than good.

        1. Alan Jutson
          May 11, 2021

          +1

        2. Jim Whitehead
          May 11, 2021

          LL. +1

    2. jon livesey
      May 11, 2021

      Quoting a wiki definition of “condominium” does not make NI one.

      1. Denis Cooper
        May 12, 2021

        No, but the legal status of Northern Ireland now conforms closely enough to that definition.

        When the only official points of entry for goods imports into Northern Ireland are those approved by the EU, and when the detailed system of checks and controls to be applied to those goods is that determined by a joint EU-UK committee, and when the EU then takes the UK to the EU’s court for unilaterally varying that system of checks and controls on imports, then clearly the Queen is no longer the sole sovereign.

  8. Richard1
    May 11, 2021

    Right but at some point we are going to need a move away from the big govt social democracy of the last 18 months. Have the Tories implemented any pro-business measures since the last election? I can’t think of any. On the other hand there are lots of anti-business measures. Kwasi Kwarteng’s new rules deter people from going on boards, and at the margin will encourage investors to base companies elsewhere. Now there are going to be takeover controls making a failure to report a potential deal subject to the new regs a criminal offence. So of course every deal will be reported. That means more a lot more costs for the bureaucrats who will examine them. Yet more interventions subsidising and distorting the housing market like Osborne’s ridiculous help to buy policy.

    3, Maybe even only 2 years to the next election. If all we are going to do is tax borrow spend and regulate we may as well have stayed in the EEA / EFTA. We know that free market policies work and create prosperity whereas social democracy doesn’t. Time for Conservative MPs to reflect on this. Anyone can get a cheer for splashing taxpayer cash until the bills come in. But at the next election all this will be judged. It will be dangerous if we haven’t made the U.K. obviously competitive versus the eurozone.

    1. Everhopeful
      May 11, 2021

      Rumours of GE as early as next year!
      Johnson trying to consolidate the fake popularity ( based on dreadful Labour’s unpopularity).
      He will secure another 5 years.
      To torture and destroy us.

      1. Alan Jutson
        May 11, 2021

        Madness, is an 80 seat majority not good enough, if he goes for another GE then wait for the Mrs May type failure !

        1. Everhopeful
          May 11, 2021

          +1

      2. glen cullen
        May 11, 2021

        Maybe the real Tory MPs will get him to change his and his girlfriends mind on the ridicules green revolution and banning of ICE vehicles
.I’m all for an early election if the manifesto including reversal of green policies and real action on illegal immigration.
        Unless those few MPs convince him, and convince him soon, I’m sticking with the Monster Raving Loony Party – the only honest party in British politics

        1. Everhopeful
          May 11, 2021

          Maybe he is after a mandate to do all the barmy stuff?
          Before too many wake up from their lotus eating furlough and see the devastation!

          1. glen cullen
            May 11, 2021

            I fear you’re correct – green policies via the backdoor and he can always say we voted for them

    2. turboterrier
      May 11, 2021

      Richard1
      +1
      3. +10

    3. a-tracy
      May 11, 2021

      Richard1 – I agree with you – the only pro-business measures I can think of is the furlough protection so that businesses did not have to lay off staff that couldn’t work, passing the alternative to Universal credit payments back to employers to pay out in a hope that they can recover and start to bring workers back into full-time contract work. However, coming out of this lockdown is going to be much harder, taking all your staff back on the books with only half the revenue/turnover will be a killer and those businesses that did do the right thing by their employees could end up with a big fat bill for redundancy and notice payouts if this government doesn’t get out of our way and makes it easier to sell with free advice on how to make export paperwork, import docs and put the same restrictions the EU have put on certain ones of our business community on their same business community otherwise things will only get worse for UK producers who are also having to compete within the UK with faciliated EU imports of their competitor’s products, we need to be more French. We will compete fairly but not with our hands tied behind our backs.

  9. Andy
    May 11, 2021

    Another irrelevant day in Parliament when a party most of us don’t vote for outlines policies most of us don’t want – and which it will fail to deliver properly anyway.

    Take voter ID. Electoral fraud is a non-issue in this country. It doesn’t happen. And yet in a deliberate attempt to suppress the votes of young people, minorities, the poor and others who are less likely to vote Conservative than pensioners – the Tories are going to make it the law anyway. They are also going to change constituency boundaries – giving them a further electoral advantage. And they are going to scrap the fixed term Parliament act. Allowing them to choose the date of the next election.

    Football would be boring if Liverpool set the rules, picked the ground, bought the ref and began each game with a 10-0 head start.

    I have stopped listening to this lousy government. They are not my government. They are a bunch of corrupt incompetent who mistakenly think they are running the country.

    1. Richard1
      May 11, 2021

      Certainly there is evidence of extensive electoral fraud. There have been successful criminal prosecutions for it. Leftwing student groups encouraged students to vote twice. Who can possibly object to people identifying themselves to vote – why does this discriminate against minorities? Only a patronising racist would think it’s more difficult for a non-white person to produce ID than it is for a white person.

      The fixed term parliament act is clearly incompatible with parliamentary democracy as was shown by the shenanigans following passage of the surrender act in the last parliament, where the pro-EU majority sought to thwart the govt but wouldn’t dare face the electorate.

      1. Shirley M
        May 11, 2021

        -+1 It was the Parliament of 2017-2019 that turned me away from PR, which I had previously supported. It was a free-for-all, dominated by undemocratic anti-UK politicians. Fortunately, we voted out quite a few of them, but many still remain in Parliament.

        1. forthurst
          May 11, 2021

          PR does not imply the continuation of the liblabcon unless people want any or all of them to continue.

      2. J Bush
        May 11, 2021

        +1

      3. NickC
        May 11, 2021

        Richard1, You are perfectly correct. Reducing the opportunity for vote fraud is essential and equitable. Andy’s view that the young, the non-native, and the poor are too feeble to provide proof of entitlement to vote is absurd. It’s just jaundice on Andy’s part because he cannot point to 30 mile lorry queues, food shortages, medicine shortages (except in the EU), or the general collapse of the UK, due to Brexit.

        1. Andy
          May 11, 2021

          I made the mistake of assuming we’d still be able to export stuff after Brexit. Turns out, thanks to you, we can’t. Hence no queues.

          Loads of shortages though which you could easily see it you took a moment to remove your head from your backside.

          1. Peter2
            May 11, 2021

            Export figure despite Covid look good.

          2. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            Nettled you, have I, Andy? We are, of course, still exporting to the EU, and importing from them too. Despite your predictions of doom.

      4. a-tracy
        May 11, 2021

        Richard1 I saw a couple of students openly bragging about how they got a postal vote at their parent’s address and voted in their local student digs area.

        1. MiC
          May 11, 2021

          Yeah, I’ve read lots of commenters claiming that they heard them too.

          1. a-tracy
            May 12, 2021

            Perhaps the government should lean on twitter and facebook at that time of the election to pass on the output Martin of people bragging about being able to do this.

          2. NickC
            May 12, 2021

            Martin, As a student I got vote cards in two places – at home and at college 100 miles away. However, I did not vote twice. So yes vote fraud by students was, and is, possible.

    2. David Brown
      May 11, 2021

      Andy
      Totally agree with you
      What goes up will go down and the current GOV support will change.
      Politics is a strange business and voters quickly stab Political parties in the back.
      It’s the way Politics is.
      There will be a time of
      Lowering the age of voting to 16
      PR system
      Federal regions inc in England
      Join the EEA

      Reply Think about why you keep losing referendums – we had one which ruled out change to the voting system, one to leave the EU, one for Scotland to stay in the UK and one to stop Regional government. The public come to great answers.

      1. Peter Parsons
        May 11, 2021

        We’ve never been offered a referendum on PR. You can make the argument that the public don’t want it if the public vote against it. Until that point, you can’t.

        1. Peter2
          May 11, 2021

          If a very mild version ie AV is rejected ..do you really think PR would get a big majority?

          1. Peter Parsons
            May 11, 2021

            AV is not PR in any form, mild or not.

          2. Peter2
            May 12, 2021

            They rejected any change in the voting system from FPTP.

            I also remember the campaign where it was explained that AV was the first step towards a PR system.

          3. Peter Parsons
            May 12, 2021

            The vote rejected changing from FPTP to AV, nothing about preferences for changing to any other system can be inferred since we were not asked.

            AV is not the first step to PR. I know a number of pro-PR people who voted no to AV for the simple reason that AV is not a PR system.

      2. forthurst
        May 11, 2021

        Giving people a choice between the unfair FPTP electoral system and the less fair alternative vote system was an act of cynicism not statesmanship.

      3. David Brown
        May 11, 2021

        Sir JR, You make a fair point, I’m of an age that does not know any time beyond Tony Blair being PM. I guess my main point is that Ive no history like most contributors here, and I look forward up to 10 years. The world is constantly changing and I’m enthusiastic for a different system, it may be some years but I can wait.
        However I have flogged my support for the EU to death on this blog so will try and stop boring people with the same narrative.

      4. Peter2
        May 11, 2021

        Well said Sir John.

    3. Iain Moore
      May 11, 2021

      If you don’t look for voter fraud you don’t find it , while they allow mass postal voting , vote fraud will be endemic. In the London Mayoral election people were saying they saw people with hand fulls of postal votes.

      1. Andy
        May 11, 2021

        Very McCarthyite. If you don’t look for the Commies you won’t find them.

        1. Peter2
          May 11, 2021

          You need to look for them because they hide amongst us andy.
          Once theyvare outed we realise just how useless they are.

      2. MiC
        May 11, 2021

        Have you ever filled in a postal vote?

        Please explain how multiple unique voting papers can be created?

        1. Peter2
          May 11, 2021

          That isn’t how voter fraud happens MiC
          As I’m sure you know.

        2. MiC
          May 12, 2021

          Come on then, do tell?

          1. a-tracy
            May 12, 2021

            Martin, just a couple of ideas – you register at two addresses in separate areas, i.e. student digs and at your parents’ – you get a postal vote for one of them and vote in person at the other.
            You suggest all your friends get their grandparents to get a postal vote so that you can help them to ensure they register ‘their’ vote if they don’t normally bother.
            In particular, politically motivated students are ingenious.

    4. Everhopeful
      May 11, 2021

      Let’s all just stop listening.
      And live our lives as best we can!

    5. MiC
      May 11, 2021

      They are not the party of groundbreaking entrepreneurs.

      In the modern economy such people need highly educated and creative staff to innovate and to navigate today’s complexity and sophistication.

      They are the party of the proprietor rentier class – of Old Money, that is.

      1. Peter2
        May 11, 2021

        Or you could just set up as a maintenance person MiC.

    6. a-tracy
      May 11, 2021

      Bye, Andy.

    7. SM
      May 11, 2021

      There is always a need to change constituency boundaries, whether or Council Wards or Parliamentary seats, due to changes in numbers. Proposed changes have to be presented to, and argued for/against, at Electoral Commission local hearings, who can approve or turn down plans, which must then be put before Parliament.

      For decades, there have been Labour safe seats where the electorate numbers are significantly below the recommended average, and which have not had the excuse of geographic issues (ie The Isle of Wight).

    8. Peter2
      May 11, 2021

      Oh dear , how sad, never mind Andy.

    9. jon livesey
      May 11, 2021

      “One more push” was Ed Milliband’s story. How long ago was that?

      Labour has won three of the last eleven elections, and it was Blair, Blair and Blair.

  10. No Longer Anonymous
    May 11, 2021

    Was the Hartlepool vote a rejection of woke-ism ?

    I rejected the Tory party this time because it has allowed woke-ism to run rampant, allowed immigration to run out of control (in a pandemic !) and seems addicted to masks and anti-social distancing.

    For someone living in Hartlepool from a Labour family doubtless voting Tory seems like a drastic swing to the right. Those of us who know better realise that the Tory party are up to their necks in it.

    I’m sure the modern Tories suit voters who used to vote Labour but people are utterly sick of woke-ism and BBC/Harry Antoinette lecturing.

    How on earth have you missed this signal from the voters, Sir John ?

    1. Everhopeful
      May 11, 2021

      I wonder if the “Tory Party” is really more of a cult?
      How else can MPs go along with all the sh*t?

    2. J Bush
      May 11, 2021

      +1

      There was only an election for the PCC in my area, the previous, now current one, is a conservative who appears to be, if the reports I receive are anything to go, more interested in fighting ‘covid’ than real crime. I spoilt my ballot paper, not just because I view this position and its costly entourage a waste of taxpayers money, but also on principle, because he is purportedly supposed to be a ‘conservative’.

    3. J Bush
      May 11, 2021

      +1

      There was only an election for the PCC in my area, the previous, now current one, is a conservative who appears to be, if the reports I receive are anything to go by, more interested in fighting ‘covid’ than real crime. I spoilt my ballot paper, not just because I view this position and its costly entourage a waste of taxpayers money, but also on principle, because he is purportedly supposed to be a ‘conservative’.

  11. Alan Jutson
    May 11, 2021

    If Only !

  12. MiC
    May 11, 2021

    The message of Hartlepool is not that the Tories have enjoyed a surge amongst such voters – they only got a handful more than last time – it is that Labour ones stayed at home.

    There are any number of factors as to why they might have done that, but it may not have been wasted on them to see that the Tories only seem to spend on Tory-voting areas for one.

    1. NickC
      May 11, 2021

      What, you mean the Tories only spend on Tory areas such as Scotland, Martin? Give over!

    2. IanT
      May 11, 2021

      I have a slightly different perspective Martin and I think mine is nearer the truth.

      The Tories would have won Hartlepool the previous time around but the Brexit Party effectively split the vote. Faced with just a choice of the (pro-EU) Labour Party or the (Brexit) Tories, I think it was pretty obvious how things would turn out this time around.

      But to just make certain they lost votes, Keir Starmer appointed a died-in-the-wool Remainer (in a 70% Brexit voting area) as their candidate. As Littlejohn says “You couldn’t make it up!” 🙂

      1. MiC
        May 11, 2021

        Your brexit is over and done – and it’s rubbish as predicted.

        But why should the side which someone once honourably took in a now dead issue be of any relevance whatsoever?

        No one cares which way, say, the Tory candidate might have voted over the same-gender marriage Bill, so what’s so special about anything else?

        1. Peter2
          May 11, 2021

          You keep dragging up the past MiC
          When it suits you.

        2. IanT
          May 12, 2021

          I never thought it would be easy Martin but on balance, I’m still very happy to be outside the EU.

          As for the Labour candidate for Hartlepool, you may think it had no relevance – and although he may well be honourable (or even a very nice chap) – it was still clearly an act of gross political stupidity by Starmer’s team to put him up.

          Not that I object of course. Maybe I should just be cheering them on, in the hope they will continue to shoot themselves in both feet.

    3. No Longer Anonymous
      May 11, 2021

      Yup

      The ones that stayed at home were fed up with woke-ism and fed up with being called nasty and thick by the liberal Left.

      You got that ?

      1. MiC
        May 11, 2021

        Please cite a public Labour figure who called any likely Labour voter any of these things?

        That’s just tripe as ever.

        1. No Longer Anonymous
          May 11, 2021

          You did, Andy.

          You’re a Labour supporter and you’re not unusual among Labour supporters in gobbing off in an unpleasant manner.

          I was careful not to say a Labour politician but the ‘liberal Left’ and I meant such as you and those in the broadcast and left wing published media.

          1. MiC
            May 12, 2021

            No, I may have called the self-harming working people who vote Tory or ukip etc. certain things but absolutely NOT Labour voters.

            Why would I?

        2. IanT
          May 12, 2021

          Maybe that’s the problem Martin – neither you (nor the Labour leadership) know what real ‘tripe’ is any more – but then none of you seem to have ever ventured too far North. 🙂

    4. Peter2
      May 11, 2021

      MiC
      Perhaps they stayed at home because they were fed up being described as quasi feral tradesmen, racists, thick, illiterate patriotic flag wavers and more, by you and other posh big city dwelling posh Labour supporters.

      1. MiC
        May 11, 2021

        No, they’re Tory-ukip-BP voters.

        Labour ones are fine.

        1. Peter2
          May 11, 2021

          Amazing how you know MiC
          But please carry on insulting traditional Labour voters.

          1. No Longer Anonymous
            May 11, 2021

            He just doesn’t get it, Peter. He really doesn’t get it.

          2. Peter2
            May 11, 2021

            NLA
            Its called cognitive dissonance

    5. jon livesey
      May 11, 2021

      MiC, it really is quite simple. At each election Labour have to assemble a coalition of voters big enough to win.

      But mainstream Labour voters would not vote for Corbyn in 2019,and today Labour leftists will not vote for Starmer.

      That’s a problem you can’t just blandly wave away.

      1. MiC
        May 12, 2021

        Self-employed tradesmen have never often voted Labour, going back generations.

        There happen to be far more of them now, and they have largely replaced employees in heavy industry.

        Labour should look elsewhere for its votes.

    6. a-tracy
      May 12, 2021

      MiC, well P Parson’s was on this very blog recently saying Northern Ireland gets more than ÂŁ4000 per head than anywhere else and that’s not a Tory area, the NW get more he told us and the NE or are you now saying they are big Tory areas now?

  13. Iain Moore
    May 11, 2021

    ” It does mean government helping business to provide more affordable homes for sale.”

    The Government has decided it is easier to face down people trying to defend their diminishing bits of countryside than call a halt to mass immigration, which Boris Johnson has put rocket boosters under, for almost everyday we hear of Government announcements to find ways to have more people settle here.

    Build back better? No that is a lie, it is Concrete over the countryside more quickly!

    1. hat man
      May 11, 2021

      +1

  14. Everhopeful
    May 11, 2021

    What a lovely, blissful article.
    If only the evil ones shared this vision!

    1. MiC
      May 12, 2021

      To the jaundiced eye the world is yellow.

  15. Bill B.
    May 11, 2021

    The thing that many people want in Hartlepool and everywhere else is jobs. 813,000 more unemployed since your party in government brought in the lockdowns. That’s how hard you have to work, just to get back to where you started when your government came in a year-and-a-half ago.

    Still, I see one of the fast-growing job descriptions according to LinkedIn is ‘Experts in Workplace Diversity’. I wonder how well that will play, in Hartlepool.

    Nurses are in demand too. Except your government only wants them to have a below-inflation wage rise.

  16. nota#
    May 11, 2021

    Sir John – Good post today and agree with the premise.

    We need also to ditch a bucketful of laws and regulation, they may seem appropriate in isolation but the ‘authorities’ like to drift these to build up personal esteem and purpose.

    We also need to fully engage in the fact the UK is a single sovereign entity. All UK people are part of the whole, NI is not some far away foreign land it is an integral part of the UK and should remain 100% unless the people there take a different position. The Belfast Agreement is sacrosanct, the EU Protocol for the Peoples of NI is about internal EU Protectionism.

    In simple terms if the people don’t through their political system don’t vote for the laws, regulation and rules, that relate to the workings in their own domain. If they then cannot then amend or repeal these same dictates – they are a defeated Nation and enslaved by Bullies. It is not for a Foreign power to dictate how people live their lives in their own territory. The EU needs to grow up.

    The same goes for fishing it is not EU Fishing when it comes from UK territorial waters, its simply UK Fishing. If through engagement and Parliament the UK permits others to share, that is the UK permitting the EU Fisheries Commission licences and quotas. It is not for the UK then to be specific with EU States. Not forgetting it is the EU Commission that all along has stated they are the only negotiating body for UK trade with the EU

  17. Newmania
    May 11, 2021

    Uhuh …,I think you will find that given a choice between a lecture on the Free market as some money , many will plump for the latter. In fact the Brexit State has already thrown plenty of cash at the area , all stuck on UK credit card
    Interesting to see a crack in the blue hold on the South the Conservative Party has been energetically turning itself into the Party the Daily Express but many of the good folk of Sir John`s constituency will be Times and FT readers who work in the City . For how long will they out up with a Party who despises their values, jeopardises their jobs and feels the only values of any importance are those of devil dog owning England flag draping face tattoo sporting numbskulls
    Only in our absurd two Party system could this absurd state of affairs persist

    1. Peter2
      May 11, 2021

      Please carry on with your abuse of the voters NM
      It will help keep Labour in opposition for many more years.

    2. NickC
      May 11, 2021

      Is that why Sadiq Khan lost support in London, Newmania?

    3. MiC
      May 11, 2021

      You have nailed it with your last but one sentence.

      Civic minded, modern people will realise that the Labour Party absolutely believes in private property and self-betterment just as much as they might.

      1. No Longer Anonymous
        May 11, 2021

        The last sentence says it all though, MiC. It really does.

        You STILL don’t get why you keep losing referenda and elections.

      2. Peter2
        May 11, 2021

        Wrong MiC
        Surely you know what socialism means?

      3. jon livesey
        May 11, 2021

        “Labour Party absolutely believes in private property” And this come from Mic, who threatened us with “revolution” if we did not follow Labour dictates.

        And what did McDonnell mean when he threatened us with “insurrection”? And what did Dianne Abbott mean when she said that if democracy did not produce the right answers, it would lead to “direct action”? Or how about Corbyn’s threat to confiscate and redistribute ten percent of the shares in all companies?

        MiC’s posting always boil down to Labour double-talk. Labour promises to “respect” your property, and then takes it from you to fund one of their crazy schemes.

  18. Narrow Shoulders
    May 11, 2021

    Call me an old romantic but I would like to hear a list of laws and taxes that are going to be repealed in the Queen’s speech not a list of laws that will be enacted.

    Government is too big and intrusive as it is. Let this government be truly radical and reduce is involvement in our lives.

    1. glen cullen
      May 11, 2021

      Repeal laws and taxes…….that might happen one day if we ever leave the EU and get a government with a backbone

  19. Bryan Harris
    May 11, 2021

    It seems odd, pointless even, that such a debate is pursued just before the Queen’s speech, when all of the decisions will already have been made. One must assume Parliament know about all of the 30 laws and so on the government is proposing?
    Shouldn’t there have been a debate on this before the policies were settled?

    To the debate then: Is this going to be the chance to congratulate the government on it’s vision, or attack it for failing in certain areas, as the opposition will certainly do?

    I’d be happy to propose policies, but as the matter has already been settled there seems no point — Instead we will have to wait for the full details to be published, which will then allow us to be critical or otherwise, based on what we learn.

    Reply There are regular debates to promote new ideas and new laws which government takes into account when framing a Queens speech.

    1. glen cullen
      May 11, 2021

      Agree the debate is a complete waste of time; one half saying the speech is great while the other half says its rubbish
..waste of valuable parliamentary time

      1. Bryan Harris
        May 12, 2021

        Indeed… Parliament has still not gotten over us being out of the EU, and still think this establishment is just a debating opportunity rather than something that changes people’s lives.

    2. Bryan Harris
      May 12, 2021

      I’d be interested to learn about what debates went into providing an extra ÂŁ30Million to the police to enforce restrictions when restrictions are allegedly going to end soon.

      Are we heading the same way as Germany, where people are forced to wear masks in the street or face an immediate fine?

  20. turboterrier
    May 11, 2021

    Very good Sir John
    I can sign on for all of that.
    Will Boris, his cabinet and the majority of your members in the house?
    I have more chance walking on water.

    If the reports coming out of France about possible civil unrest are true maybe there is a lesson for the learning for our lot.
    .

    1. No Longer Anonymous
      May 11, 2021

      Not just civil unrest but armed revolution.

      France held up as an exemplar of EU cosmopolitan sophistry and intelligence. Turns out it has a real extremism problem unlike the situation concocted by the Left in our country.

      No wonder there aren’t any little rubber boats heading from our country to theirs.

      1. jon livesey
        May 11, 2021

        “Turns out”? France has always had a problem with extremism. Within living memory, de Gaulle took over as French leader on an outright coup d’etat.

        Even more recently, in 1968, he was almost overthrown himself by a student/worker uprising. France was within a day of a revolution.

        Let’s not kid ourselves that France is another UK, stable, pragmatic and democratic. It isn’t, and it never has been.

  21. William Long
    May 11, 2021

    I wish we had a political party that really believed in the agenda you set out. If we did I would certainly vote for it. It is an agenda that would certainly be welcomed by many Conservative supporters, but I am afraid there is little sign of the desireability of lower taxes, and people being left to develope their own lives as they think best, either in the current Government, or much of the Parliamentary Conservative party.

  22. agricola
    May 11, 2021

    It should not be difficult to declare the NI Protocol null and void. It is an imposition on internal UK trade over which the EU should have no jurisdiction. It was patently arrived at as a political punishment. It is already causing political and riotous disruption of the Good Friday Agreement. It must go.
    The EU should be told that they will only be informed of goods ultimately destined for the EU. Goods going to NI for enhancement or just for transit purposes should be the only ones the EU are notified about and that in trace paperwork only or electronically.
    Those that use the border for illicit trade activities will be prosecuted by whichever side catches them or both. Those that nip north or south because petrol is cheaper is something both sides will have to live with until it is done on a scale greater than one.

    There is only one reason for the Protocol, punishment for leaving, so it must go.

    1. Andy
      May 11, 2021

      The Northern Ireland Protocol is part of the legally binding Withdrawal Agreement. This was the ‘oven ready’ Brexit deal you voted for at the 2019 general election if you voted Tory. It was negotiated entirely by Boris Johnson and David Frost. May had already ruled out the internal border that you erected.

      Virtually every Conservative MP voted for the withdrawal agreement. Virtually every opposition MP voted against. Some Tories now claim they didn’t understand exactly what they were voting for, or Bill Cash’s section 38 somehow helps them. It doesn’t. They should have got a better lawyer.

      Your mess. You own it.

    2. Jason9
      May 11, 2021

      Not so, it’s just that our negotiaters and politicians did such a bad job- too many cooks spoil the broth- but it was agreed and passed in the Houses- so now it’s law and more importantly it’s international law. There will be no need for EU to go out of its way to punish us- we have done that all by ourselves by our own hand

      1. Denis Cooper
        May 11, 2021

        And are still doing a bad job now:

        https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-calls-eu-show-pragmatism-over-nireland-trade-2021-05-11/

        “We’re committed to working through the issues with the EU urgently and in good faith,” British negotiator and junior minister David Frost said in a statement.

        “I hope they will take a common sense, risk-based approach that enables us to agree a pragmatic way forward that substantially eases the burdens on Northern Ireland.”

        Why on earth should he say that when he knows that the EU has just rejected a risk-based approach?

        https://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2021/05/10/the-will-of-scottish-voters/#comment-1227801

        “London has been pressing the EU to adopt a risk-assessment approach to managing large volumes of food of animal origin entering Northern Ireland from Britain under the terms of the NI Protocol.

        But according to RTÉ, the European Commission considered the proposal and concluded it would jeopardise EU rules and run counter to the bloc’s food safety regulations and zero-risk approach.”

  23. kb
    May 11, 2021

    The speech will bear no relation to this piece by JR, that much is certain. I’d like to hear something about house prices.
    House prices are ridiculous. Who exactly is buying flats in Hackney for ÂŁ530k ?
    The house price differential between London and the regions is ridiculous.
    Terraced house in Hackney, average ÂŁ1.14 million (!), in Blackpool ÂŁ98k.
    How can young people buy homes, and how can we have labour mobility with this going on?

    1. nota#
      May 11, 2021

      @kb, for the most part throughout the UK house price inflation over the years is fueled by those that could already afford the property being subsidies to purchase by those that will neve be able to afford to even dream of it.

      One mans subsidy is always another’s ‘cost’. Governments mislead they don’t have money, they just know who to steal it from and it is never the person that can afford it.

    2. Iain Moore
      May 11, 2021

      It is reported that Hong Kong people, who Johnson has given the right to reside here, have bought up ÂŁ1 billion worth of property in London in the last nine months. Well when you give 5 million people the right of residency this should have been expected.

      Our idiots in Government think we have unlimited resources to accommodate unlimited numbers of people.

      1. Fedupsoutherner
        May 11, 2021

        Well MIC seems to think we have.

  24. Nick@Barkham
    May 11, 2021

    As a Wokingham resident I am telling you that you should gird your loins for trouble around the planning reforms (again). There have already been absolutely preposterous volumes of poorly planned houses built here in recent years. We are not going to have more foisted upon us by the Big Spending Stalinist Project currently sitting in Number 10 ruining our hard-earned standard of living.

  25. nota#
    May 11, 2021

    In the UK the Planners have approved permissions for around a million homes. The Building Companies have massive land banks, enough to keep them going for the next 10 years (which of course is good protection for a company).

    The Building Co’s are only holding back as the time(price) is not right for maximum profit. Or in other words they are wanting those ‘taxpayer’ that can’t afford to get on the housing ladder to be directed by Government to subsidies those that can.

    There is not a planning problem anywhere were there is a sensible proposition. A ‘land Bank’ with planning that has not been built of does not pay the same tax as those around it that are contributing to the provision of infrastructure, schools and so on. What the ‘Land Bank’ does gain is the its increased value from the contributions of others.

  26. nota#
    May 11, 2021

    Subsidy Control Bill: Measures to support businesses, reflecting the UK’s strategic interests and drives economic growth

    This wouldn’t be required if all companies were treated as equals. Not as now, some enjoy the endeavors of others but neve contribute on an equal basis. This proposal suggest more tinkering to shore up a bankrupt system

  27. glen cullen
    May 11, 2021

    The coalition of the Labour and the Green Party drafted and delivered a splendid Queens Speech today

  28. J Bush
    May 11, 2021

    Apparently this purportedly conservative government is going to bring in 30 new laws this year! Are any going to be repealed? Appears not, so yet more to add to the reams and reams of conflicting laws we already have. Why don’t they just amend the existing laws? What are they trying to do, build a skyscraper of legislation?

  29. glen cullen
    May 11, 2021

    It most certainly isn’t a debate, MPs are giving individual speeches on any topic apart from the Queens Speech – why doesn’t the Speaker of the House put a stop to it and tell MPs to stay on topic

  30. jon livesey
    May 11, 2021

    “Much of it requires the state to do less and to let people keep more of their own money.”

    If I have one criticism of your blog, it is that you see too many things only in terms of voters and their taxes. If you look at the country and its history, its successive industrial and now services and software revolutions have been driven by enterpreneurs.

    Growth is not driven by letting Fred keep more of his wage, but by businessmen creating new products and therefore new jobs for Fred. If things go well, then sure, Fred can keep more of his wage, but it’s new business that drives the economy forward, not Fred.

    Make the UK a good environment for new businesses, especially in the new areas of software and AI, and there will be many opportunities in the future for reducing taxes, but you have to make the UK an attractive business environment first. Just reducing Fred’s taxes won’t do it.

  31. Original Richard
    May 11, 2021

    If our epistocratic elites believe that the public acceptance of Covid lockdowns will mean the public will also accept lockdowns and energy rationing because the Environment Bill, setting binding environmental targets, has led to energy shortages, whilst other countries such as China carry on regardless, then I think they are completely deluded.

    1. SM
      May 12, 2021

      +10

  32. Bitterend
    May 11, 2021

    Some of my friends tell me that JR’s blog censorship is in full swing – but after seeing and hearing the Ballymurphy relatives speak today I can’t say I’m surprised about anything happening in this country anymore

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