- Saudi crown prince says no Israel ties without Palestinian state
- Canada to further cut international student, foreign worker permits
- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
- Italy seen overtaking France as world's largest wine producer
- Hezbollah vows vengeance on Israel for pager blasts
- Brook expects unified England after McCullum's white-ball takeover
- Kamindu Mendis century rescues Sri Lanka against New Zealand
- Two dead in botched armed raid on Russian retailer's office
- UK train drivers back govt pay deal to end strikes
- Man who copied French rapist says he deserves to punished
- Eriksen will wait to settle Man Utd future
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ |
UK's Labour govt programme laid out in king's address
King Charles III outlined Labour's first programme for government in 15 years on Wednesday, with promises of economic stability and tougher action on irregular immigration to improving relations with Europe soured by Brexit.
"We will unlock growth and take the brakes off Britain," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in introductory remarks to the King's Speech, a centuries-old tradition full of pomp and ceremony that details the laws the government proposes to make over the next 12 months.
Despite its name, the address, which marks the official start of the new parliamentary session, is not written by the monarch as head of state but by the government. It was centre-left Labour's first such speech since it was last in power in 2010.
Labour returned to government following a landslide win against the Tories earlier this month.
Wearing the diamond-studded Imperial State Crown, a Royal Navy outfit and long robe, Charles delivered Labour's proposals from a golden throne in the House of Lords upper chamber after travelling from Buckingham Palace in a carriage procession.
The speech included more than 35 bills, including measures to enforce public spending rules and an independent assessment of future budgets to prevent a repeat of former prime minister Liz Truss's disastrous 2022 mini-budget that tanked the economy.
The legislation fleshed out several announcements already made, such as the launching of a wealth fund to draw investment into the UK and of a publicly owned body tasked with boosting clean energy by 2030.
Labour also announced an acceleration of housebuilding, plans to renationalise Britain's much-maligned rail services.
There was also detail of a new border security command with beefed-up "counter-terror powers" to curb "immigration crime" -- Starmer's pledge to "smash the gangs" behind small boats crossings of the Channel by migrants from northern France.
A bill to boost workers' rights, including a ban on zero-hour contracts, and strengthened protections for renters were also included, as were plans to reform the unelected House of Lords by scrapping the right of those with hereditary titles to sit there.
Ex-prime minister Rishi Sunak's proposal to phase out smoking also made it, as did plans for a football regulator.
Also included was a pledge to repeal a controversial act that granted conditional immunity to perpetrators of crimes in Northern Ireland during the Troubles era of sectarian violence.
"This is a hungry party," former Labour minister Tony McNulty told AFP before the speech. "They are chomping at the bit to show that they can get back to being what they see as the natural party of government."
- Ceremonial 'hostage' -
The day's proceedings started when royal bodyguards ritually searched the basement of the Palace of Westminster for explosives -- a legacy of the failed attempt by Catholics to blow up parliament in 1605.
The king travelled Buckingham Palace, escorted by mounted cavalry, en route to the Houses of Parliament.
A smattering of anti-monarchy protesters chanted "Not my king" outside parliament, while the Metropolitan Police said 10 members of activist group Youth Demand were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
Tradition at the ceremony dictates that an MP is ceremonially held "hostage" in the palace to ensure the king's safe return.
A parliamentary official known as Black Rod had the door of the lower chamber House of Commons slammed in their face, a tradition that symbolises parliament's independence from the monarchy.
MPs then followed Black Rod to the upper chamber, where King Charles, as head of state, gave the speech to assembled lords and ladies in red and ermine robes, plus invited members of the elected Commons.
In keeping with the convention that the monarch is above politics, keen environmentalist Charles remained expressionless throughout, as he did during the last address in November when Sunak's government announced new oil and gas licences.
"That's the job," said McNulty, a British politics lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, noting however: "There's probably much in this King's Speech that he will favour rather than the other one he had to read out."
V.F.Barreira--PC