Among the 38 bills that were announced, planning reforms will allow neighbors to hold “street votes” on extensions and conversions, encouraging homeowners to add value to their properties. While a raid on housing developers’ profits will fund schools, roads and GP surgeries.
However, there were no new measures to offer immediate help with the crisis, prompting a wave of criticism from think tanks of all political leanings, opposition party leaders and Mr Johnson’s own MPs.
David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, said: “A Queen’s Speech is built on sand if it’s not underpinned by strong economic foundations.
“Taxes today are too high. So we need to get some fundamentals right. High taxes don’t deliver growth, they stifle it.”
John Redwood, the former Welsh secretary, said with heating and fuel bills increasing, “at least that money should be given back via other taxes”.
Robert Jenrick, the former housing secretary, said it was “clear that taxes on working people are too high. Sir Roger Gale, the Tory MP for North Thanet, called for “urgent action now”.
Theresa May, the former Conservative prime minister, also raised the cost of living, as she said: “It’s a time like this that the Conservative principles of sound public finances and competent economic management are needed more than ever.”
Downing Street and the Treasury also rejected calls for an emergency Budget, meaning no new tax cuts – a constant demand of Conservative MPs – are expected before the autumn.
There was not a bill addressing the Northern Ireland Protocol in the Queen’s Speech.
However, the speech said: “The continued success and integrity of the whole of the United Kingdom is of paramount importance to my Government, including the internal economic bonds between all of its parts.”
Ms Truss’s criticisms of the EU’s proposals for solving problems with the Protocol are the latest public sign that the Government could be close to taking unilateral action to override the agreement.
The Prime Minister used a call with Micheál Martin, the Irish Taoiseach, on Monday evening to say the situation over the Protocol was now “very serious”.
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