On Wednesday, at Westminster Palace, amid all the trappings of pomp and circumstance, Queen Elizabeth II read out the legislative agenda planned for this next session of parliament by the government of Prime Minister Theresa May. The Queen’s Speech, however, reflects the strained political situation the Conservatives, refused their strong majority in the June 8 general election, have now to reply to on a confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to govern. The watered-down nature of the Queen’s speech shows just how far the May Government has had to compromise on its promises laid out in its election manifesto, and laid bare by a British public who rejected its messages of austerity, benefit cuts and conservative principles.
Absent from the political agenda is the pledge to reintroduce grammar schools — long a darling of those who seek to restore a largely class-based education system, where those who can afford private schools are favoured over those who attend comprehensive schools, now cut through the bone from six years of Conservative cuts. Gone too was the pledge for a free vote on fox-hunting. Abolished 12 years ago, the return of the “sport” is a cherished dream of those who believe it’s acceptable to hunt down a terrified solitary fox with a pack of dogs and a trailing posse of toffs. And gone too is the promise of a great reform bill, a parliamentary panacea to remove all that is deemed noxious in European Union legislation, cherry-picking what is progressive, and setting the United Kingdom up as a strong and independent nation, free of the influence and interference of Brussels.
Instead, this newly-chastened May Government is proposing a series of six Brexit bills, each measured and reflecting the new reality that a “hard Brexit” — a sharp, swift and severe divorce with the EU — has been rejected by British voters. This new political reality exists but for one reason: Theresa May. It was she who looked at the disarray in Labour ranks; she who decided to call the election; she who asked for a strong majority to fight for a hard Brexit; and she who was distant and wobbly on the campaign trail.
What is clear from the agenda laid down in the Queen’s speech is that this is a Conservative administration that holds office but lacks the power — and perhaps the political will — to govern, while May remains at its helm. ‘Mexit’ seems more likely before Brexit.
