The Government will set out new policies next week, but how many of them will actually become law?
As Parliament was prorogued this week until the Queen’s Speech on 14th October, political enthusiasts could be forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu. The main difference this time, of course, is that the prorogation hasn’t been found to be illegal.
It is still a controversial moment though. With a General Election seemingly on the horizon, the Government has been criticised for asking the Queen to read out a programme for government which will surely just amount to an election manifesto.
The bizarre aspect of this Queen’s Speech then, is how little conversation and speculation there has been about the actual contents of it. If the speech is indeed full of policies making up a “dynamic domestic agenda”, then what should we be looking out for in the insurance industry? And of course, with Parliamentary maths being what they are currently, how likely is it that any of these policies will actually get enacted?
The Government is expected to lose votes on this Queen’s Speech when it faces the House of Commons. The culling of remain-minded MPs from the Conservative benches makes the passage of legislation borderline impossible at the moment, and the Government didn’t exactly have a commanding majority before this.
But that isn’t to say all the policies in the Queen’s Speech next week should be ignored – as the Government surely won’t be minded to invent two sets of policies, one for the Queen’s Speech and one for the General Election widely expected to be a matter of weeks later.
What we can expect then, is a series of broad policies designed to win votes: a pre-election giveaway.
In insurance terms, this means that policies that increase consumer bills, such as increases to Insurance Premium Tax, will be left out, whilst lofty-sounding announcements about investment in Autonomous Vehicles or measures to increase safety on Britain’s roads may well make an appearance. As we saw in the prorogation speech earlier this week, we may also get another reference to the Government’s efforts to bring down insurance premiums through its whiplash reforms.
The Queen’s Speech tends to be short on detail and big on headlines. Coming so soon before a General Election, we should be looking at it as a starter ahead of the main course of a full manifesto.
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