The Queen's Speech

Published on by D. G. Hart

I have long thought that the monarchy in Europe is largely ornamental. And given the press’ coverage of the papacy, I also wondered if Pope Francis has more authority than, say, Queen Elizabeth. But yesterday, the Queen of England spoke to Parliament and outlined the policies that “her” government was going to pursue in the upcoming months.

The speech to parliament put the economic recovery at its centre, opening with a pledge to continue bringing down the deficit and cutting taxes “to increase people’s financial security”.

With the threat that the Bank of England will increase the base rate before the General Election, there is also a pledge to keep mortgage and interest rates low and to continue to promote the Help to Buy scheme.

David Cameron had suggested he could amend the scheme after Bank of England Governor Mark Carney warned in an interview with Sky News that rising house prices were the biggest threat to economic recovery in the UK.

In an attempt to tackle the housing shortage, the Government announced plans to give developers powers to push through applications without council approval and allowing the Government to sell off unused land for development.

A new garden city will also be built in the Thames estuary at Ebbsfleet in Kent to tackle the housing shortage.

The Prime Minister and his Deputy Nick Clegg claimed the measures laid out in the Queen’s Speech were “unashamedly pro-work, pro-business and pro-aspiration”.

Just 11 new bills were introduced by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament, which will bolster Labour’s claims the coalition is now a “zombie government” which has run out of steam. Last year there were 19 new bills.

Mr Cameron hit back at claims there was “not enough” in the speech. He told the House of Commons: “We’re creating new laws on producing shale gas… new laws to help build high speed rail… new laws to reform planning to build more homes… we’re outlawing modern slavery; confiscating assets from criminals; protecting people who volunteer; cutting red tape and curbing the abuse of zero-hour contracts.

“This is a packed programme of a busy and radical government.”

I am not sure about the propriety of describing a monarchical government as radical since the republics of the U.S. and France were supposed to be the ones that broke with Europe’s conservative order. But given the way that life goes on in the UK under a monarch and the way that the U.S. republic has evolved into an empire, I wonder if republicanism is all it’s sometimes cracked up to be. Maybe an independent Scotland will show the way.

9 thoughts on “The Queen's Speech”

  1. I think the monarchy has more power then is often considered.I think we often are quick to assume the monarchy is a figurehead with little power because we are so unused to the idea of someone in power flaunting it or using there power at every turn. It is one of the things I respect about a democratic government with a monarch. We often have a caricature of a power hungry king screaming “off with his head” in which his word is law, when we see modern monarchs not doing that are assumption is they have no real power, but I feel to assume that is to fail to understand what a constitutional monarchy is and how it operates.

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  2. Canadian Grade 6 Civics Teacher: “the Queen has the power to override Canadian law, but this has not been an issue for over 100 years.”

    Student: “What if She did?”

    Teacher: “She doesn’t”

    Student: “But what if next year She did?”

    Teacher: “SHE DOESN”T!!

    Student: “But…”

    Teacher: ” SHE DOESN”T !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (with a look that any more on the topic will result in a flying fist to the face of the student asking a very obvious question)

    Almost the same as Sunday School in the Fundy church when you press points that they know they can’t remotely defend but insist on using as an iron fist.

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  3. One need only watch “The Tudors” to see how far the Monarchy has fallen. Those were the days when the King could tell the Pope to stick it, start his own gig, and bag every babe in the Kingdom. (Sigh…)

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  5. The real question is what would happen if a thoroughgoing, orthodox Christian became King or Queen and head of the Church of England; and did not, for instance, rubber stamp unorthodox bishops taking their posts (I think the Queen still does this). I suppose Parliament would strip him or her of that office.

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  6. My understanding is that, due to the (curious?) English custom of having not so much a constitution as a collection of charters, appeals to the Crown, laws, and judicial precedents, the authority of the Royal house is limited mainly by what at this point passes for tradition and could, given the right push by events, easily revert to a more active political force without anything changing legally. (I am basically repeating the point of view of a Welsh acquaintance here. I am no authority on UK politics.)

    Whether this applies to the other monarchies of Europe I have no idea. The Spanish are reportedly voting on getting rid of theirs.

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  7. It’s easy to be wowed by the ceremony. Her Majesty has a good deal of influence, especially since she’s been on the throne so long she’d already been Queen of about 20 countries for very nearly ten years by the time Barack Obama was born. But it’s not as if the speech is something she has any control over; ‘her government’ writes it for her and she has very little say in what goes in it.

    Even some of the ceremonial rams home that things are rather different post civil war: When she enters the commons chamber the door is slammed in the face of her usual representative there. The room in which she put on her robes and crown has a fascimile of Charles I’s death warrant framed on the wall. She even gets to take one of the MPs hostage for the whole affair in case anything untoward should happen to her in the commons chamber. Even after the speech, MPs deliberately debate and vote on some absolutely trivial matter before they discuss the Queen’s speech to show they’re not too bothered by her.

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