UK PM promises to ‘level up’ with Queen Elizabeth’s post-pandemic plans

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday promised to tackle inequality and level up the country with a post-pandemic raft of laws presented by Queen Elizabeth to parliament.
In a ceremony stripped back because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the queen, who wore a day dress instead of the usual robes and crown, read out the bills the government hopes to pass next year, from job creation and healthcare to stripping back post-Brexit bureaucracy.
“My government’s priority is to deliver a national recovery from the pandemic that makes the United Kingdom stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before,” the 95-year-old queen said in the speech written by the government to mark the start of a new parliamentary year.
“To achieve this, my government will level up opportunities across all parts of the United Kingdom, supporting jobs, businesses and economic growth and addressing the impact of the pandemic on public services.”
In the 18 months since Johnson’s Conservatives were re-elected with a big parliamentary majority, his agenda has been eclipsed by the pandemic, which caught his government off guard and has absorbed many of its resources for making policy.
With Britain’s vaccination programme now far ahead of many other countries and the spread of the virus at low levels, Johnson, 56, is keen to revive his ‘levelling up’ agenda and re-set a premiership also clouded by accusations of cronyism.
In an introduction to the pages of government pledges, Johnson said: “The crisis has in no way diminished the government’s ambition or appetite for change… We have been given an historic opportunity to change things for the better.”
Also part of the government’s strategy to “build back better” from the coronavirus pandemic are education reforms to help adults access life-long learning – seen by ministers as key to reshaping the British workforce.
On climate change, the government reaffirmed its commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a pledge it hopes will spur other nations to cut their emission targets before a United Nations climate summit in November in Scotland.
Much of Tuesday’s ‘Queen’s Speech’ comprised policies and proposals already flagged, prompting the opposition Labour Party to challenge the government to turn its “rhetoric into reality”.
However, there was widespread criticism of omission of thorny issues such as the provision of social care to the elderly, disabled and others, which successive governments have avoided tackling. The government said it would make reform proposals for the sector in 2021.

Olusola Akintonde