Our country stands at a pivotal moment. The world today is more
volatile and dangerous than at any point in our lifetimes. A war
on two fronts – in the Middle East and in Ukraine – threatens our
living standards. And this is not a new feeling for the British
people. For two decades our country has been buffeted by crisis
after crisis: the 2008 financial crash, the Tory austerity that
followed it, Brexit, Covid and the Ukraine War. The response in
each case was always a desperate attempt to get back to a status
quo. Even though that same status quo had repeatedly made working
people pay the price.
This time must be different. And this King's Speech shows it
will be different with a plan to make this country
stronger and fairer. Stronger, because it gives us the power to
act and stops us being blown off course by events far beyond our
borders. Fairer, because it is essential to unite the country and
unlock our full potential.
Of course, we build on the strong legislative achievements in the
last session of Parliament: the Employment Rights Act, the Great
British Energy Act, the Renters' Rights Act and more. And it will
continue our work to stabilise the economy and support people
with the cost of living. The fundamentals of our economy remain
sound and this will help us emerge from the Iran conflict
stronger and fairer.
But in the light of that conflict, we now need to move with
greater urgency. And so in this King's Speech, we will strengthen
our economic security, energy security, our defence and national
security. We will unblock the barriers to growth and prepare our
country for a world where external shocks like this are ever more
frequent. And we will fight for every child to have the chance to
go as far as their talent and effort will take them.
The immediate challenge is to keep removing barriers to growth.
That means developing an industrial strategy to create more
highly paid jobs, with an apprenticeships plan to match. It means
encouraging a new era of British nuclear energy. And it means
setting a new direction for Britain at the next EU summit:
putting Britain at the heart of Europe.
Landmark public service reforms in the NHS, police and special
education needs will also strengthen our country. We will bring
forward a public duty of candour with a Hillsborough Law. We will
take control of our energy security with an Energy Independence
Bill, boosting clean British energy across Britain. We will
protect sovereign British industries, such as British steel,
making them strong for the future. We will reform the leasehold
system to ensure that this unfair feudal system, which has
trapped millions of homeowners, is brought to an end. And through
our
Immigration and Asylum Bill we will deliver a firm but fair
immigration system that restores control and earns public trust.
Our defence and national security relies on rebuilding European
alliances as well as strengthening our defence and armed forces.
We will end defence ‘austerity' with the biggest sustained
increase in investment since the end of the Cold War. We will
stand strong with NATO, the most successful defence alliance in
history and push forward with our Defence Investment Plan. But we
also know that our enemies seek to exploit division in our
communities. That is why we will take on extremism wherever it
appears, including where it is sponsored by foreign powers that
are hostile to the UK, such as Iran.
At moments like these, we face a choice. We can choose to sink
into the politics of grievance and division. Or we can choose to
see it as an opportunity to deliver on the change we promised the
British people. The King's Speech sets our course. And we choose
to build a stronger, fairer Britain.
