Labour’s alternative Queen’s speech should do three things.
First: assert Labour’s commitment to fiscal rigour – the number one issue; the top priority; the key to being taken seriously again on every other policy issue.
Second: begin the work of reforming both our economy and our political culture so that people who have become marginalised from work and from society can have a meaningful stake.
Third: remind people that, as well as being the party of social justice and equality, we are also a party which understands people’s aspirations, even in difficult times. Here are some of the bills I would like to see in Labour’s alternative Queen’s speech:
A ‘fiscal stability bill’ to make the Office of Budget Responsibility genuinely independent of government – making it answerable primarily to parliament, like the Congressional Budget Office in the US, giving it an explicit mandate to provide independent cost estimates of individual parliamentary bills, to provide options for reducing budget deficits – and a positive remit to increase the capacity of parliament to hold the executive to account on budgetary matters. This would echo the granting of independence to the Bank of England which at a stroke reset the public perception of Labour’s approach to the economy.
Labour could boost cooperative entrepreneurship, with all the benefit it brings in terms of a stake in the venture, by introducing a ‘cooperatives and mutuals bill’ which would reduce the regulatory burden on start-up mutuals and cooperatives, cut corporation tax, reduce their VAT burden and give them greater access to public procurement contracts. And in the as the coalition has announced the funding of the Big Society Bank, we should create incentives for the banking sector to provide capital to mutuals and co-ops, as mooted in The Purple Book.
Introducing a ‘housing equity bill’ would be a clear signal that we have not given up on the aspiration of home ownership even in difficult financial times. We should build on Caroline Flint’s thinking around the development of robust, scaleable shared equity models in conjunction with lenders and developers, so that this becomes an established part of the housing landscape and a leg up onto the housing ladder. We should also look at stimulating the community land trust model, creating affordable housing for people with a stake in their communities. At the same time, for those in private rented housing, tying housing benefit payment to a register of landlords meeting the Decent Homes standard would boost investment in a sector which is increasingly critical to meeting housing demand.
A ‘transparency in equal pay bill’, a simple bill requiring companies to state in their annual accounts both the numbers and the average salaries of men and women employed in comparable roles in their organisation – helping make work pay for women through transparency.
An ‘obligatory participation in elections bill’. Reforming the way we elect our MPs is obviously in vogue – but a bill to introduce compulsory voting (following initial pilots) would decrease the democratic deficit by effectively increasing the size of the British electorate in practical terms. Such a bill would compel our elected representatives to speak to all parts of the electorate not simply to those pockets of voters who decide today’s elections.
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Alternative Queen’s Speeches on Progress
Progress editorial: The first Queen’s speech in two years is imminent. Labour should seize on the event to set out its own stall
We asked Labour people to devise what would be in Labour’s Alternative Queen’s Speech to show how Britain would be better under Labour
It should be fiscal responsibility first in Labour’s Alternative Queen’s Speech argues Jacqui Smith
The UK needs a radical tax overhaul. Fabian general secretary Andrew Harrop sets out what this would involve
Strengthening sure start comes first writes David Talbot
Richard Darlington, Tony Dolphin and Graeme Cooke from IPPR present their Alternative Queen’s Speech for jobs and growth
We need an Alternative Queen’s Speech for community empowerment argues Florence Nosegbe
Patrick Diamond wants Labour to create an efficient, muscular state through a ‘too big to fail’ bill and a ‘mutual home-ownership bill’
In Steve Van Riel‘s Alternative Queen’s Speech business should be required to publish the salary of its lowest-paid worker, and the OBR should be mandated to work with the opposition on costings
LabourList editor Mark Ferguson would put an end to Crown dependency tax havens, and finally introduce a National Care Service
Former Labour party general secretary Peter Watt would introduce a safety in care bill for all adults in care, and a rule to remove a set number of pieces of legislation from the statute book every year
We must overhaul our taxation system and introduce regional transport authorities argues Gus Baker
Anthony Parker presents his poetic contribution to the series
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Jeremy Miles is a candidate for the National Policy Forum in Wales
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