The Prime Minister’s programme for government is terrifyingly honest
Published 21 June 2017
The Women’s Equality Party delivered a damning verdict on Theresa May’s first - and probably last - Queen’s Speech today, saying it revealed how little her minority government expected to get done instead of laying out a vision for the country at a time of uncertainty and turbulence.
Responding to the speech, WE Party Leader Sophie Walker said: “Far from a unifying programme for government, the Queen’s speech is a random collection of half-baked ideas that does just enough to hold together the Conservative’s regressive alliance with the DUP. It tells us everything we need to know about what we can expect from this partnership moving forward: not very much.”
Addressing the Brexit negotiations that will dominate the political agenda until delivery of the next Queen’s Speech in 2019, Walker said: “The Conservatives continue to view Brexit as an end in itself, rather than a means to achieving our own domestic priorities. Without a clear vision for this country that responds to the needs of our citizens, Brexit will only ever mean Brexit.”
“Brexit is about our jobs, infrastructure and community. We need to set out a robust domestic agenda that sees the bigger picture and brings not just adequate investment but the imagination to unite and take this county forward. WE believe the best way to do that is to rebalance our economy by valuing our social infrastructure as much as our physical infrastructure and by seeing the promise and productivity of this country’s women.”
Walker welcomed the inclusion of proposals on social care, access to good schools, closing the gender pay gap and tackling violence against women, but warned that more detail was needed. “The Prime Minister could go so much further, with an understanding of gendered policy-making, to fill the black hole in her social care policy; build an education system that brings down barriers; deliver free childcare to strengthen our workforce, and recognise the value of migration,” she added.
Commenting on the recent snap general election which saw Theresa May’s government lose its majority, she concluded: “There’s a certain irony that the most polarised general election in decades has forced a situation in which the only platform for progress is collaborative, cross-party working. It is time to find common ground so that real progress is made on the pressing issues facing our country.”