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.’

Most popular

Patrick O’Flynn

It’s unlikely Rachel Reeves is going anywhere

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...