This week Parliament returned to begin a new session, beginning with the Queen’s speech which set out the Coalition Government’s programme for the coming year. But Emma joined Ed Miliband in warning that the Coalition’s agenda would not offer the change Britain needs.
Emma said: “The recent elections showed that people are rejecting the Coalition parties’ approach. Today many people feel like Britain is no longer working for them and that their hard work is not rewarded, and for those people more of the same is simply not good enough. We need radical change that puts the needs of the many ahead of the interests of the few.
“The Queen’s speech should have included proposals to deal with the cost of living by raising the minimum wage, creating more stable tenancies and freezing household energy bills. But the Coalition continues to ignore the challenges facing our country and gave us a Queen’s speech that will at best tinker around the edges.
“Even on issues where the Government has promised to act there was nothing. There was no announcement on standard cigarette packaging and no new measures to tackle child poverty. This speech was a huge disappointment in every respect.”
The full text of the Queen’s speech is available here, and the debate on the speech can be read here.