Draft Queen’s Speech Standard Note: SN/PC/04398 Last updated: 13 May 2008 Author: Richard Kelly and Paul Lester Parliament and Constitution Centre One of the proposals announced by Gordon Brown on 3 July 2007, in his statement on the Governance of Britain, was that the Government would publish a “provisional legislative programme”. On 11 July 2007, he outlined in a statement to the House of Commons the Government’s first draft legislative programme. He also announced that the Leader of the House was publishing an initial list of proposed legislative measures. Brief details of the progress on the bills listed in the draft legislative programme are reported. This note briefly reviews the reasons why a draft Queen’s Speech was made, and some of the reaction to it. The Modernisation Committee has reviewed the process. It welcomed the publication of the draft legislative programme and supported the Leader of the House’s plan to give the House, its committees and the public longer to consider the draft legislative programme. This note briefly reviews the Modernisation Committee’s report. Finally, the Note reviews the background to the institution of the Queen’s Speech. Contents A. The draft Queen’s Speech in July 2007 2 1. Reaction to the statement in the House of Commons 2 2. Debate on the draft Queen’s Speech 4 B. Why a draft Queen’s Speech? 4 1. Consultation process 6 C. The first draft legislative programme 7 D. Modernisation Committee review of the draft legislative programme 7 E. The draft Queen’s Speech in 2008 9 F. The Queen’s Speech 9 Appendix – The progress of bills announced in the first draft legislative programme 12 A. The draft Queen’s Speech in July 2007 On 3 July 2007, in his statement on constitutional reform, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, announced that: I propose that we reinforce the accountability of the Executive to Parliament and to the public with a statement in the summer, prior to the Queen’s Speech, on the provisional forward legislative programme, and this will start this month.1 On 5 July at Business Questions, Harriet Harman, the Leader of the House, confirmed that “It is the Government’s intention to make an oral statement on the content of the draft legislative programme to the House before it rises”.2 On 11 July 2007, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, outlined in a statement to the House of Commons the Government’s draft legislative programme. He began by outlining why the Government had decided to announce its plans for forthcoming legislation: For over one and a half centuries, the annual Gracious Address has been drafted inside Government and agreed by the Cabinet far from the public arena, but I believe that it is right, in the interests of good and open government and public debate, that each year the Prime Minister make a summer statement to the House so that initial thinking, previously private, can be the subject of widespread and informed public debate. Today, in advance of final decisions, the Leader of the House is publishing details of our initial list of proposed legislative measures, inviting debate on them in both Houses this month and making provision for region-by-region deliberation and responses.3 The Leader of the House published The Governance of Britain – The Government’s Draft Legislative Programme, on the same day.4 Also on the same day, Harriet Harman announced that “Her Majesty the Queen will open the new session of this Parliament on Tuesday 6 November”.5 1. Reaction to the statement in the House of Commons In response, David Cameron, the Leader of the Opposition, acknowledged that the announcement of a draft legislative programme was meant to be a “great constitutional innovation”. However, he argued that it was a familiar list of bills: I know that it is meant to be some great constitutional innovation, but most of what he announced sounded rather like the Queen’s Speech last year, the year before and the year before that—a long list of Bills, the same priorities and the same failures, and we have heard it all before.6 1 HC Deb 3 July 2007 c817 2 HC Deb 5 July 2007 c1092 3 HC Deb 11 July 2007 c1449 4 Office of the Leader of the House of Commons, The Governance of Britain - The Government’s Draft Legislative Programme, 11 July 2007, Cm 7175, http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm71/7175/7175.pdf 5 HC Deb 11 July 2007 c58WS 6 HC Deb 11 July 2007 c1451-1452 2 In a similar vein, Elfyn Llwyd said that the announcement was “a good idea, but there is more than a whiff of déjà vu about the content”.7 Sir Menzies Campbell also welcomed the innovation, on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, and expressed the hope that more bills would be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny: If these proposals represent a genuine attempt by the Government to consult in advance of the Queen’s Speech, they most certainly should be welcomed, but I say to the Prime Minister that we should be concerned about the quality of legislation as much as we are about the quantity. I hope that he feels it appropriate to ensure that there is much more pre-legislative scrutiny during his time in No.10 Downing Street than there has been hitherto.8 The statement was also welcomed by Graham Allen who asked for all bills to be published in draft and for the Prime Minister to “ensure the fullest pre-legislative scrutiny”. The Prime Minister responded in the following way: The Prime Minister: I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who takes a huge interest in those constitutional matters and has made several very good proposals about how we can improve the workings of the House. Yes, we want more draft Bills for scrutiny before they are given a Second Reading—but it is not always possible to do that, especially in relation to justice and counter-terrorism. However, I hope that the practice can become more widespread, that the House will play a bigger role in examining such matters before legislating, and that over time there will be all-party support for the procedures. My intention is to devolve power from the Executive to Parliament in some vital matters.9 Kenneth Clarke, who chaired the Conservative Party’s Democracy Taskforce,10 welcomed “in principle” the idea of publishing a list of bills that might be included in the Queen’s Speech. He then asked: … Does the Prime Minister agree that if the proposal is to have any practical purpose, as opposed to being just a gesture, it would now be a good idea to refer to the appropriate Committees of the House the question of how much time should properly be allocated to each Bill for debate and scrutiny—and for the Government to contemplate dropping from the programme such Bills as need to be dropped to make sure that we can make a sensible reality of debating and scrutinising Bills without the pressure of totally unrealistic timetables? The Prime Minister: I take on board the right hon. and learned Gentleman’s remarks. I know that he chaired the Conservative party’s constitutional committee, which made several recommendations about the management of business in the House. The Liaison Committee will discuss the matter, and I look forward to its comments. Several Bills have already been published in draft, and that practice will 7 HC Deb 11 July 2007 c1460 8 HC Deb 11 July 2007 c1455 9 HC Deb 11 July 2007 c1458 10 Conservatives, Ken Clarke’s Democracy Taskforce, http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=democracy.taskforce.page 3 increase. There will be a debate in Government time on the draft legislative programme before the summer recess. I hope that there will be a similar debate in the House of Lords. At the same time, it would be good for this country if region by region consultation took place, whereby people in their constituencies and communities could take a view on some of the more controversial measures. Of course the purpose of consultation is listening to what people say, and that means that we must be prepared to make changes as a result.11 Other Members – Jeremy Corbyn, Michael Meacher, George Howarth, Nigel Dodds and Clive Efford – welcomed the initiative.12 2. Debate on the draft Queen’s Speech When she confirmed that the Government would make a statement on the draft legislative programme, on 5 July 2007, Harriet Harman proposed to allow debate on the contents of the programme during the summer recess Adjournment debate.13 Sir Patrick Cormack pressed for a separate debate on the proposed legislative programme, and Ms Harman offered to “take soundings on the best way of dealing with matter”.14 Lynda Waltho asked how select committees and individual Members would be involved in the debate, to which Ms Harman responded: … I have suggested to my right hon. Friend the Member for Swansea, West (Mr. Williams), the Chair of the Liaison Committee, that the consultation with Members and the scrutiny of the draft legislative programme—the programme will be announced by way of a statement of the House—should be undertaken by the Liaison Committee, and he has been good enough to agree that that is what he will do.15 On 12 July, at the following week’s Business Questions, Harriet Harman announced that the draft legislative programme would be debated on 25 July, and that the summer recess Adjournment debate would take place on 26 July.