The Queen’s Speech: What it means for Streatham
Last week, at the opening of the new session of parliament, the Queen’s speech outlined the government’s future legislative programme.
Below is a summary of the most important new bills announced and what they mean for Streatham residents:
Child poverty
The Child Poverty Bill will legally ensure that resources and effort are put towards meeting the target of eradicating child poverty in the UK by 2020. Labour has already lifted 500,000 children out of poverty – while under the previous Tory government the rate of child poverty doubled – and the bill would bind any future government to helping those children most in need in our community.
Schools and Young People
The government has pledged one-to-one tutoring for any primary school pupil falling behind in Maths and English. Parents will be given more power through new local authority annual surveys on parent views of secondary schools and children will be guaranteed the legal right to a good education for the first time, with new powers for authorities to intervene to remedy poorly performing schools. This will help pupils in Streatham make the most of their education and enable parents to give their children the best possible start in life.
Crime and Security Bill
In order to make our streets safer, Labour will provide new powers to police and local authorities to tackle violence committed by under-18s. Domestic violence victims will be helped through new ‘Go Orders’ against suspects, which will force them to stay away from their homes for a set amount of time. This will empower victims who may have been unprepared to lay charges.
To tackle unfair wheel champing, a new compulsory licensing scheme put into place for all clamping businesses. Alongside this, penalties will be limited and fair and effective processes for making appeals will be put into place. This will help rid Streatham’s streets of unnecessary wheel clamping and unduly high fines.
The Personal Care at Home Bill
Labour has pledged free personal care for those most in need. This will benefit up to 280,000 people and will allow elderly residents in Streatham to remain in their own homes for longer. Additionally, 130,000 people who have recently come out of hospital will now be entitled to free enablement care.
Equality Bill
Building on the great Labour success of implementing the national minimum wage, this bill will make it a legal duty for public bodies to make efforts to reduce socio-economic inequality.
The Financial Services Bill
The government will give the Financial Services Authority (FSA) powers to tear up any banker’s contracts which provide bonuses encouraging unnecessary risks.
A new Consumer Protection Agency will be set up to support individuals joining together to make US style ‘class action’ lawsuits against banks. This will empower individuals to take action against bigger organisations and institutions, being able to pool their resources.
All of these policies show that Labour is committed to making our society a safer and more equal one, placing people’s welfare at the top of its agenda.
