Was that it?

Was that it?

Two years since the last Queen’s Speech, and all the government could muster was a fairly forgettable bunch of bills designed to tinker not fix (with the possible exception of Lods Reform, which looks like a serious bill but in reality is a non-starter for the Tories). And make no mistake – this is a broken country that needs fixing. Cameron was right when he said that we live in Broken Britain – just not in the way he imagined.

Let’s have a look at what was absent from the speech:

• There was no mention of equal marriage, something which should take little parliamentary time and cost little if any money. If the will was there to drive it through against the wishes of bigoted Tory backbenchers then it might have been. But it was sacrificed to the gods of party unity after poor election results. Shameful.
• HS2 – unpopular in many Tory constituencies, was conspicuously absent.
• Perhaps most shockingly of all – as spotted by Labour MP Dan Jarvis – there was not one mention of jobs in the speech. Not one. Plenty of waffle about growth, but no credible plan of action to achieve that beyond the failed policies of the past two years. Hyper-austerity will surely follow as the Chancellor panics, but refuses to take another path. A personal tragedy for him. A national tragedy for the British people.

Today the great and the good of British society marched into the Lords in their finery. The Queen wore her best crown. The pageantry was overwhelming. And some of the wealthiest people on Britain sat in a palace dripping with gold and heard policies that will affect the lives of millions resplendent with u-turns aplenty.

But there was no mention of jobs, as unemployment rises and growth stalls. As recession returns. No mention of jobs.

If you want to know what and who the government stands for – it’s right there, in black and white (or not), painted in ink on vellum.

No jobs.