The Queen's Speech 2013 by Edelman

QUEEN’S SPEECH 2013

Chris Rumfitt

Overview

Managing Director, Public Affairs

So low profile has this year’s Queen’s Speech been that of all the national newspapers only the Daily Telegraph led with it on its front page this morning. But whilst it’s true that the Government (rather sensibly) got most of its most difficult legislation through in the first two years of the Parliament - including reform of schools, the NHS and the welfare system – this is not quite as empty a legislative programme as some would have you believe. As with any Queen’s Speech, you can divide the legislation into those Bills that are about making important long-term policy reforms such as reform of social care and of pensions; and others which clearly have a more political, vote-winning bent like the immigration and law & order legislation. As every year, you should also note what isn’t in the Speech – no further regulation of tobacco marketing or alcohol

pricing for instance, which would have antagonised the free market Tory right. One senses, however, that the political mood music this year will be set not by issues covered by the legislation going through Parliament; but by the Conservatives continuing internal debate about Europe and, more than anything, by the performance of the economy. So whilst there are some significant pieces of legislation in there, none of it will change the political mood music and none of it is what front pages are made of. With the news from Old Trafford this morning, I suspect that after one front page today the Queen’s Speech may well score zero tomorrow.

Labour’s Alternative Queen’s Speech

Headline Bills Immigration Bill – Ensuring illegal immigrants cannot gain

driving licences and compelling private landlords to check the immigration status of their tenants

Draft Consumer Rights Bill – Strengthening consumer

protection with the aim of making it easier to claim refunds

Care Bill – Imposing a cap on social care costs in England, as

Ahead of the Queen’s Speech, Ed Miliband set out an alternative package of measures intended to help address what he described as the UK’s “deep and serious problems”. The Labour Leader proposed six key Bills that his Party would introduce if in power.

Jobs Bill – Including a Compulsory Jobs Guarantee targeted at

recommended by the Dilnot Commission

those who have been out of work for more than two years and young people without a job for six months

Pensions Bill – Introducing a single-tier pension and bringing

Finance Bill – Reversing the Coalition’s VAT rise and

forward to 2026 the date at which the retirement age rises to 67

Intellectual Property Bill – Implementing the Unified

reintroducing the 50p top rate of income tax, together with the 10p rate of income tax

Patent Court, with the aim of providing a single patent system across the EU

Consumers Bill – Granting the Government new powers

Banking Reform Bill (carried over from previous session) –

Banking Bill – Setting up a British Investment Bank and new

Overhauling banking regulation to ensure that banks’ retail and investment activities remain separate

Other Measures – National Insurance Contributions Bill,

Deregulation Bill, Local Audit and Accountability Bill, Energy Bill (carried over from previous session), Water Bill, Mesothelioma Bill, Offender Rehabilitation Bill, Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill, Defence Reform Bill, Northern Ireland Bill, High Speed Rail (preparation) Bill, High Speed Two Hybrid Bill and Draft Wales Bill

Queen’s Speech 2013

designed to tackle the rising cost of energy bills and rail fairs regional banks, with the aim of increasing lending to small and medium sized businesses

Housing Bill – Introducing a national register of landlords and other measures targeted at improving standards in the private rented sector and challenging rogue landlords

Immigration Bill – Enforcing new measures aimed at

preventing the exploitation of migrant labour, including fines for breaches of the National Minimum Wage

Sector Perspectives Business & Financial Services Dominic Pendry

Infrastructure & Energy Jessica Lennard Summary

Two Bills from last year – Energy and Water - made a repeat appearance in today’s Speech, amidst mounting frustration from industry at the slow pace of progress. The Energy Bill Report Stage is now not expected until June; and the Water Bill, which aims to encourage competition and stimulate new investment, may not appear until the autumn. Mention was made of the Government’s intention to crowbar simplification of energy tariffs into the current Energy Bill (one of a number of consumer targeted policies in today’s speech); while an apparent U-turn on climate change as a G8 summit priority may please disgruntled environmentalists. The only key piece of new legislation this year gives the green light to the controversial High Speed Rail 2 project, linking London with the Midlands. Also worth noting were three energy policies aimed to catch consumer eyes (and votes) in Labour’s alternative Queen’s Speech: to replace Ofgem with a new regulator; to return to a version of the electricity pool system; and to force energy companies to put all over-75s on their cheapest tariff.

Summary

There were few surprises for the corporate and financial services sectors today. A Deregulation Bill aimed at reducing red-tape for business, particularly SMEs, will doubtless provide cheer to the 45% of business leaders who continue to cite regulation as a barrier to growth. Progress on HS2 will also be welcome, as will plans to reduce companies’ National Insurance contributions. In the City, eyes remain firmly fixed on Andrew Tyrie’s Banking Commission, which will publish its final report shortly. The report will provide the meat for the Banking Reform Bill, carried over from the last Parliamentary session. Away from Parliament, multi-national companies await the forthcoming G8 summit with keen interest as the Government re-emphasised it will prioritise tax during its presidency of the Leaders’ Summit in June.

Health Camilla Horwood

Food & Retail Anthony Marlowe Summary

Retail and FMCG businesses will welcome the Government’s emphasis on supporting consumers and industry, though there will be concern that the rhetoric is translated into action. Bills on Deregulation and Consumer Rights promise simpler operating environments for industry but have limited detail available at this stage. Similarly, the Government’s ongoing commitment to reducing red-tape for business has had mixed success to date, and critics will be waiting to see whether this year’s Speech will deliver a welcome boost for the process. Flagship measures such as the Employment Allowance have also focused on helping smaller employers. Businesses with larger operations will be keen to see proposals which support their operations too. What hasn’t been included in this year’s Speech is as important as what has. Controversial measures including a Minimum Unit Price for alcohol weren’t mentioned and industry will see this as a welcome sign that the Government is listening to concerns about the impact of such a policy.

Queen’s Speech 2013

Summary

The Care Bill will complete dramatic reform of England’s complex social care system, capping the amount that elderly people will need to pay for their long-term social care post 2017. It means the State will pay costs above the figure of £72,000. The cap is higher than that recommended by the Dilnot report, which had advised a cap of £35,000. The threshold for meanstested support will also rise from £23,000 to £110,000, which is 10% higher than Dilnot had floated. Other significant measures relating to the NHS were contained in the Immigration Bill which will limit the migrant access to free NHS care, without making contributions to the system. This is a welcome move to conserve NHS budgets at a time when the NHS needs every penny to go as far as it can.

Social Media Reaction Conversation Analysis via Flow140 The video (right) shows the Twitter conversation before, during and after the Queen’s Speech. Specifically it highlights which tweeters were most influential in the conversation. Coverage of the Queen’s speech generated 19,774 tweets as of 2:30PM today. The Twitter parody handle Queen_UK drove coverage by posting several humorous remarks and updates on the speech from the BBC were also frequently retweeted. An announcement made by Sir Alex Ferguson also drove a proportion of coverage today with users questioning its timing. Interestingly all were significantly more influential than No.10’s and Buckingham Palace on Twitter.

0.4% are idea starters (54 people) generated 51% of the conversations

Twitter Reaction

100

49%

@David_Cameron Bills on growth, immigration, pensions, consumer rights & social care- today’s Queen’s Speech is for people who work hard and want to get on

51%

@Ed_Miliband Today’s Queen’s Speech should respond to the deep problems the country faces. On the evidence so far, it is not up to the scale of the task

99.6% 40

0.4%

Analysis of Key Conversations 100

Neutral 18%

OwenJones84 comments on Queen’s descent from German immigrants

Neutral 21%

Queen_UK remark on Ed Milliband

Neutral 23%

Queen_UK “Parliament, one is in you. #QueensSpeech”

Neutral 38%

Queen_UK “One has drafted one’s own Queen’s Speech instead”

@ianbirrell If the coalition’s first priority is to improve economic competitiveness why is the #queensspeech filled with anti-immigrant measures?

@OwenJones84 Making landlords responsible for immigration status of tenants opens door to possible discrimination against anyone who “seems foreign”

@Kevin_Maguire Queen’s Speech at 10 minutes was shorter than one of Alex Ferguson’s half-time hair dryer rants. He’s stolen her day

Queen’s Speech 2013