Today’s Queen’s Speech is notable not for what’s in it, but for what’s been left out. With no Tory majority and no agreement with the DUP, Theresa May has had to gut her 2017 Conservative Manifesto. The fact that the legislation ‘trailed’ on the eve of the speech included plans to tackle nuisance whiplash compensation claims and a ban on letting fees that was first announced last year, just demonstrates how sparse it is on new legislation.
In terms of what has been put in the dustbin, the list is lengthy. The plan to cut free school lunches has been scrapped, along with May’s plans for more grammar schools. There is no mention of winter fuel allowance being means tested or the energy price cap proposal. Social care is mentioned but there is no mention of the so-called ‘dementia tax’.
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