How covid-19 pandemic dominated Her Majesty’s 67th Parliamentary opening, monarch’s message, and pandemic radically altered the age-long pomp and pageantry of the grand state opening of parliament. The ‘royal’ speech, which was scripted by Prime Minister Johnson and his colleagues, outlined more proposals than previous legislative programmes, impacting every aspect of our professional, and personal life irrespective of location, or occupation. Our readers can get a FREE copy of Her Majesty’s speech with relevant annotations entitled ‘QUEEN’S SPEECH: HOW NEW LAWS WILL IMPACT EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYERS AND THOSE EDUCATION’ (#QueensSpeech #Imafidon)
By Professor Chris Imafidon – This year’s Queen Speech and ceremonies were severely changed in style and substance due to the covid19, and to some extent the passing of HRH Prince Philip. This TO-DO-LIST of laws delivered by the dutiful 95-year-old monarch, HM Queen Elizabeth II, was her first major official outing since the funeral of her consort HRH Prince Philip who would have accompanied and sat next to her during such grand occasions. Sadly by convention, Prince Philip’s usual seat – officially called The Consort’s throne, had been removed, and is in the care of the Lord Great Chamberlain for safekeeping. It will be recalled that the throne was first installed in 1901 for Queen Alexandra. So for the first time ever, the Queen sat alone on the golden Sovereign’s throne.
Despite the changes in her life, the Queen looked calm and composed and would have been relieved, and energised to be back at work because she is driven by duty and sustained by faith. If Her Majesty was under the weather with cold, it was not obvious to her audience except via sniffing while reading. On this occasion, there were no horse-drawn carriages, or coaches and the Queen did not wear ceremonial robes or the crown, but wore a day dress and hat, and travelled from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster in a car. The crown, which normally resides in the Tower of London, was paraded through the echoing hallways of the Palace of Westminster on a red velvet pillow rather than on the queen’s head.
MISSION NOT MESSAGE
In Her Majesty’s speech, the government wants to provide aid to reduce poverty; alleviating human suffering, pursue equality; uphold human rights; and democracy across the world and get 40 million girls across the world into school.
In this ten-minute speech to the House of Lords, she highlighted 30 laws that ministers intend to pass in the coming year. Here is the British government’s “to-do list” vocalised by the Queen, WITH ZERO input from her.
In her speech, the Queen said the Government’s priority is to “deliver a national recovery from the pandemic that makes the United Kingdom stronger, healthier and more prosperous than before”. Wants “lead the world in life sciences” while there would be the “fastest ever increase in public funding for research and development”.
With waiting lists for treatment reaching record high during the Covid-19 crisis and 4.7m now queuing for care, the government promised to “prioritise recovery in NHS services to bring down waiting times”.
A central slogan of the last election was echoed when the speech contained “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. Proposals will be taken forward to transform connectivity by rail and bus and to extend 5G mobile coverage and gigabit capable broadband,”
EQUITY VS EQUALITY
In what would have been music to the ears of Prince Philip, a champion of equity, the speech said “Measures will be brought forward to address racial and ethnic disparities” This is of considerable importance in the wake of the recent discredited BAME report. The only point of resolution is that equity must be universally defined and accepted by all stakeholders – led by the BAME community, then understood by both the government and privileged and other members of the public. The Prime Minister has publicly stated several times that his biological children are BAME – making reference to their mixed heritage of Asian. And that his cabinet is the most diverse in British history, so legislation must to passed to address all forms of racial discrimination. The policies must be implemented to truly give equal opportunities to all in education, employment and housing as a starting point. The expectations of the current hashtag generation far exceed the threshold levels of their parents who endured the once ubiquitous signs “No Irish, No Blacks, No dogs”. The new vista calls for equity not mere equality.
According to the speech, proposals will be brought forward to address violence, including against women and girls, and to support victims [Draft Victims Bill]. This issue has been unfairly affected by superficial partisanship. This is particularly needed as this global evil led to another life of a prospective UK postgraduate student. Hours before the speech, news broke of the rape and murder a 26-year old female graduate, Iniubong Ephraim-Umoren. This recent philosophy graduate was lulled by a fake employer man who buried her in a swallow grade in oil-rich Nigeria. Law enforcement and legislators can no longer pay lip service to this evil.
EDUCATION – CHILDREN
The Government will address the huge problems of “lost learning” while children were kept away from school during the pandemic. The government says “Measures will be brought forward to ensure that children have the best start in life, prioritising their early years.
“My ministers will address lost learning during the pandemic and ensure every child has a high quality education and is able to fulfil their potential.” In one of the last sections of the speech, it said “My Government will continue to provide aid where it has the greatest impact on reducing poverty and alleviating human suffering. My Government will uphold human rights and democracy across the world. It will take forward a global effort to get 40 million girls across the world into school”
EDUCATION – ADULTS
According the royal statement, “A Skills and Post-16 Education Bill will introduce a new flexible loan” system designed to promote wider participation in further education in England
A “Lifetime Skills Guarantee” to expand vocational training and shift the balance from university to further education will be put into law. This radical life-long loan entitlement from 2025 will give all adults access to the equivalent of four years of student loans to spend on higher level study including short courses or training. Employers will also have more say over government-funded vocational courses.
EDUCATION – HIGHER
There is little debate about our university campuses being key contributors to conversations, dialogue and real disagreements on all sorts of themes and topics. So a Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill will place new legal duties on students’ unions and universities in England to ensure free speech on campus. Freedom in universities, targeting what ministers said is a “chilling effect” of silencing free expression on campus.
The pledge follows a commitment to place new legal requirements that universities and student unions uphold freedom of speech, and the appointment of a free speech champion.
Scholars and students are dismayed by the reforms, saying there is little evidence for widespread infringements of free speech on campus and objecting to the increased government interference. Critics believe that “There are serious threats to freedom of speech and academic freedom on campus, but they come from the government and some university managers, not staff and students.
EURO-CENTRIC TO AFRO-CENTRIC?
Britain is currently chair of the G7 group of nations. And the government says, “The United Kingdom will host the G7 Summit and lead the global effort to secure a robust economic recovery from the pandemic. My Ministers will deepen trade ties in the Gulf, Africa and the Indo-Pacific. This is of real importance to Africa nations that participated in the pre-Brexit Africa summit in January last year. Ghana and Sierra Leone now enjoy a free-trading zone with the UK, and many more countries are signing up on a closer partnership. Adding that Legislation will support measures will be introduced to ensure that “support for businesses reflects the United Kingdom’s strategic interests and drives economic growth”.
HOUSING AND PLANNING CHANGES
The government promised a new building safety regulator will be established as part of reforms based on lessons from the 2017 Grenfell tower fire in which 72 people died. It is almost four years on from the atrocity and the issue of financing the repair of unsafe buildings are unresolved. A few days before this speech, a block of flats in east London, E14 with Grenfell-style cladding caught fire.
The speech added that “My Government will help more people to own their own home whilst enhancing the rights of those who rent. “Laws to modernise the planning system, so that more homes can be built, will be brought forward, along with measures to end the practice of ground rents for new leasehold properties. This government’s agenda includes major interventions in England’s housing market, chief among them controversial planning reforms to boost house-building by cutting back local, case-by-case decision-making.
ENVIRONMENT
In what would have pleased the late HRH Prince Philip, the government is creating new green jobs. Saying that it will be a priority for the government, as it looks to position itself as a leader ahead of hosting the international climate summit, known as COP26, in Glasgow in November. The government intends “invest in new green industries and was committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050”.
New legally binding environmental targets would be set this year as part of the long-awaited environment bill, and legislation would be introduced to ensure the UK ensure the highest standards of animal welfare.
ARMED FORCES
Legacy legislation will deal with legacy issues from the Troubles in Northern Ireland, including restrictions on future prosecutions of British soldiers
Government support for veterans will be outlined in an Armed Forces Bill, putting the so-called Armed Forces Covenant into law
“My Ministers will provide our gallant Armed Services with the biggest spending increase in thirty years, taking forward their programme of modernisation and reinforcing the United Kingdom’s commitment to NATO. My Ministers will honour and strengthen the Armed Forces Covenant, placing it in law [Armed Forces Bill]. Measures will be introduced to provide National Insurance contribution relief for employers of veterans [National Insurance Contributions Bill]”
MEMBERS
It is usual to meet a huge crowd of MPs, peers and other dignitaries in the House of Lords at the state opening of parliament. However, due to the pandemic, only Covid negative, masking wearing 74 people was allowed to attend. This included the monarch, Charles, the Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer, representatives from the House of Lords and House of Commons and those involved in the ceremonial procession. There were only 17 members of the Lords and 17 MPs in the Royal Gallery.
Significantly fewer politicians and peers participated compared with previous years and no diplomatic or non-parliamentary guests were invited.
There were just 108 people in the house, including the Queen, rather than up to 600 as is the norm. #QueensSpeech #Imafidon
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How to get your FREE e-copy of the book “QUEEN’S SPEECH: HOW NEW LAWS WILL IMPACT EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYERS AND THOSE EDUCATION’
FREE copy of a book of the QUEEN’S SPEECH (Annotated for employees, employers and anyone in education with a special session of how the new laws may directly impact you personally or professionally), VISIT www.ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk – or if you want a quicker response (within hours), via Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisImafidon) or click here [https://twitter.com/ChrisImafidon/status/1391982351744262149?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet] specially Click here. This is a special historic edition of Her Majesty’s speech to legislators (The first since the passing of the Queen’s consort, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh). Some aspects of the speech will DIRECTLY affect you irrespective of your location, profession or nationality. It will assist everyone to plan ahead and prepare for new opportunities – post pandemic and post-Brexit.
Professor Chris Imafidon, is a multi-Guinness World record holder; world renowned adviser to monarchs, governments, presidents and corporate leaders; Mentor to New York Times Bestellers and a Sunday Times Op-ed author. [Twitter @ChrisImafidon; Instagram @CoImafidon; Facebook/Linkedln –Professor Chris Imafidon
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