November 2019: A manifesto for the next General Election

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE is Leader of the LGA’s Liberal Democrat Group 


A 93-year-old pensioner got dragged out in the pouring rain to deliver a speech she didn’t write, with polices that won’t be delivered, from a government without the numbers to govern, pushing an agenda which is ill-thought out and badly conceived. 

The Queen’s speech was nothing more than the Conservative manifesto for the next General Election.

“The Queen’s Speech has recycled pledges to tackle crime which do nothing to tackle the root causes of crime in our communities”

And by the time you read this column, we may have some idea of when that will be. Or we could have more of the farce that Parliament has now become.

The road to hell is littered with good intentions. The Queen’s speech has a lot of so-called good intentions – if you can call them that.

It has references to yet another commitment to devolution, a possible replacement for the millions of pounds of EU funding that our poorer regions will lose, and yet another pledge on tackling the social care crisis.

It also has wishy washy commitments to tackle climate change and recycled pledges to tackle crime which do nothing to tackle the root causes of crime in our communities. 

It was nothing more than a pointless speech for a Prime Minster with no mandate. 

Sorry Liz - you shouldn’t have been dragged out in the rain for this!