July 17 (UPI) — King Charles III Wednesday delivered the King’s Speech in which he laid out a “new deal” for workers from Britain’s new ruling Labor Party government.
The constitutional monarchy traditional speech is written by the new government and the king delivers it as a government figurehead.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement, “Improving living standards for working people through economic growth will be the central focus of new laws.”
Through the king, Britain’s Labor Party said it would be committed “to making work pay and will legislate to introduce a new deal for working people to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights.”
“My government recognizes the urgency of the global climate challenge and the new job opportunities that can come from leading the development of the technologies of the future,” the king’s speech said. “It is committed to a clean energy transition which will lower energy bills for consumers over time.”
“My government’s legislative program will be mission led and based upon the principles of security, fairness and opportunity for all,” the king’s speech said. “Securing economic growth will be a fundamental mission. My government will seek a new partnership with both business and working people and help the country move on from the recent cost of living challenges by prioritizing wealth creation for all communities.”
Starmer said the Labor Party government will provide better transport, more jobs and “turbocharge building of houses and infrastructure.”
Labor Party bills include improving the National Health Service “as a service for all, providing care on the basis of need regardless of the ability to pay.”
The Labor Party-led government enunciated through the king’s speech its commitment to “ensure a strong defense based on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s common values of individual liberty, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
The government said Britain’s commitment to NATO “will remain unshakeable.”
“My government will continue to give its full support to Ukraine and its people and it will endeavor to play a leading role in providing Ukraine with a clear path to NATO membership,” the king’s speech said.
The Labor Party plans dozens of bills addressing working people’s rights, the environment, pensions, budget responsibility, planning and infrastructure, crime and policing, public ownership of passenger railway services, corporate governance and more.
Other bills will address race and disability equality, mental health, renter’s rights, children’s wellbeing, and terrorism.
The government’s ambitious agenda seeks to rebuild Britain.
With 412 seats — the largest majority of any single party in Parliament since the 1800s — the Labor Party will be positioned to pass its ambitious agenda.
