“A lack of ambition and vision” Feryal Clark MP responds to the Queen’s Speech

With the debate on the Queen’s speech concluding yesterday, it is evidently clear that this Government has a lack of ambition and a lack of clarity on their plan for the country.

Far from pursuing a “Levelling Up” agenda, we have seen continued dither and delay on the things that matter to people in Enfield North and across the UK.

For young people in particular, this Government’s record has been a series of let downs and broken promises. This Queen’s Speech was another missed opportunity to deliver the transformational change needed to enable every young person to reach their potential, with a supposed “Lifetime Skills Guarantee” that falls way short of what is required.

During the recent careers fair I hosted for young people in Enfield North, I saw first hand the passion and ambition that young people in our community have, but the Government has let them down time after time, by pulling up the ladder rather than offering a helping hand.

It is not inevitable that a whole generation of young people be negatively impacted by this crisis – it is a choice by the Conservatives.

On the economy and jobs, this Queen’s Speech yet again failed to match the Government’s empty rhetoric on their “Levelling Up” agenda, with nothing to promote a green, and truly inclusive, economic recovery.

There can be no fair recovery without greater recognition, rights and reward for working people. The Tories have turned their back on the people who have helped us through this crisis and treated health and social care workers with contempt.

The Government did not announce any new measures to create jobs and tackle unemployment, beyond those announced nearly a year ago in July 2020. Those job schemes already announced are not working and are failing to match the scale of the challenge.

For the over 6000 people claiming some form of unemployment support in Enfield North, this is simply not good enough, and the Government needs to quickly deliver a plan for Jobs, Jobs, Jobs as well as Jabs, Jabs, Jabs.

After the shambles of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the Government once again were way wide of the mark in this Queen’s Speech when it came to protecting our communities and delivering safer streets for all.

Over the past 11 years we have witnessed this Conservative Government slashing our police officers, preventative services and withdrawing neighbourhood policing. They are soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime, and this Queen’s Speech offered nothing to remedy that record.

As with the Policing Bill, this Queen’s Speech again failed to offer any kind of substantial strategy on tackling violence against women and girls. After the horrific murder of Sarah Everard, this Government needed to act swiftly to put serious measures in place but have once again fallen short.

Our communities here in Enfield North deserve so much better than the dither, delay and dereliction of duty being offered by this Government when it comes to making our streets safe.

After 11 years of Conservative failure on housing, this Queens Speech does very little to address our broken housing and rental market, or deal with the deep-seated problems people across housing tenures face. The Conservatives have no plan to fix the housing crisis faced by people here in Enfield North and across the country.

From homeowners, to leaseholders, to young people trying to get on the housing ladder, to people renting in private or social homes, life is harder not easier after more than a decade of Conservative incompetence, inaction and broken promises on housing.

The Government’s proposed reforms of the planning system are a Developer’s Charter that will remove powers from elected local representatives and hand them to Whitehall-appointed boards of developers while doing nothing to solve the growing affordable housing crisis our country faces.

We have seen from recent developments in Enfield, including the proposals for the Palace Gardens Shopping Centre, the importance of empowering local government to create sustainable housing solutions, rather than leaving it to developers who will ride rough shod over our communities.

Lastly on the NHS and Social Care, this Queen’s Speech showed the Government just does not have a plan for a sustainable future.

The NHS is faced with a huge backlog of care due to the Covid pandemic, but the reality is that the NHS was stretched, under-resourced and struggling before the pandemic struck.

Covid brutally exposed the cracks in our social care system but the reality is that it was under strain and faced with over £8 billion of cuts to budgets even before the pandemic struck.

We urgently need to see an NHS rescue plan to ensure the NHS has the staff and modern equipment to deliver the cancer care, surgery and mental health care patients in Enfield North and across the UK deserve.

Far from the lack of ambition and vision from the Tories, a Labour Queen’s Speech would offer transformative change as we emerge from the pandemic so that we can make Britain the best place to grow up and grow old.

I will continue to hold the Government to account to ensure the best deal for people in Enfield North, and that their talent and potential is matched by ambitious and effective legislation.