Today the Queen opened a new session of Parliament and laid out the Government’s ambitious domestic legislative agenda for the year ahead.
Unsurprisingly the Queen’s Speech began with Brexit, where the Government’s commitment to leaving the EU on 31 October, with a good deal in place, was reaffirmed.
Other important pledges were included in this year’s speech, which focused on the issues which are of great importance to my constituents: protecting our environment, investing in new transport infrastructure, and strengthening our NHS. This extends to putting into law substantive proposals to fix the crisis in adult social care, giving people the dignity and security they deserve.
Additional measures also included new laws to tackle crime and to strengthen the support available to victims, and commitments to make sure every child is provided with a world class education.
On the environment, I am pleased that measures will be introduced to improve air and water quality and that tougher action will be taken on plastic pollution. The Animal Welfare Bill, which will increase the maximum jail sentence for animal abusers, will also be returning to this Parliamentary session so that it can be enshrined in law.
I receive a lot of correspondence about broadband coverage in Worcestershire, so I am pleased that new legislation is to be introduced to accelerate the delivery of fast and reliable broadband across the county. This comes in addition to ambitious plans to strengthen our digital, transport and energy infrastructure, through the National Infrastructure Strategy, which will also address the critical challenges posed by climate change and build on our commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. I will be making sure Worcestershire gets its fair share of any additional investment that comes as a result of these measures.
Finally, like most of my constituents I welcome the commitment to strengthen our criminal justice system and I am glad that the Domestic Abuse Bill will return in this Parliamentary session and will be a central plank of this commitment.
There is a lot to be applauded in this speech, and I was pleased to be in Parliament today to hear it.
