Portrait of the week | 29 May 2010

In her 58th speech at the state opening of Parliament, the Queen said: ‘My government’s legislative programme will be based upon the principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility.’

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In her 58th speech at the state opening of Parliament, the Queen said: ‘My government’s legislative programme will be based upon the principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility.’ Among the 22 bills proposed were provisions for a ‘significant acceleration’ in the reduction of the annual state deficit, to be achieved mainly by less spending rather than by more taxation; a ‘significant increase’ in personal income tax allowances in the emergency Budget next month; establishment of state-funded schools outside local authority control; abolition of identity cards and of the National Identity Register; referendums on any future European Union treaties; a referendum on the Alternative Vote system for election to the House of Commons; fixed-term five-year parliaments, with a vote by 55 per cent of the Commons being required to secure an earlier dissolution; a reduction of the number of constituencies and an equalising of their sizes; the drawing up of plans this year for a ‘wholly or mainly elected’ Upper House, chosen by proportional representation; the public election of commissioners to oversee local police forces; an annual limit ‘in the tens of thousands’ of migrants from outside the EU; maintenance of the nuclear deterrent; the transference of City supervision from the Financial Services Authority to the Bank of England; partial privatisation of the Royal Mail and the retention of post offices in public ownership; limits to the holding of innocent people’s DNA and the use of closed-circuit television cameras; a requirement for public bodies to publish online the salaries and expenses of senior officials; and ‘fair and transparent’ compensation...