At its heart is the conviction that government can be a force for good - to secure economic prosperity and build a fairer society. Not small government or big government, but smarter – reformed and responsive – government.

Our focus, as ever, is economic growth, locking in the recovery and forging a stronger, fairer, Britain for the many not the few.

This is a difficult period for our country, but we are optimistic. Britain has a bright future, not of austerity but progress, based on the country’s greatest strength: the talent and enterprise of the people.

Investing for the future: building tomorrow’s economy today

We will ensure that the banking crisis we have experienced over the last two years should never again come at a cost to the living standards of Britain’s families. Instead we will rebuild banking so that it supports the economy and offers fairer finances for businesses and consumers.

So we will transform the way the financial sector is policed, through the Financial Services Bill, with banks themselves and not the taxpayer made to pay for bank failings. Part of this is about ensuring we have a tough supervisory regime; we will ensure the Tripartite system is strengthened, is more transparent and is accountable to parliament, with a legal duty on the Financial Services Authority to promote financial stability, to regulate bankers pay (including a power which allows the FSA to tear up future contracts which do not comply with the rules) and a requirement for banks to organise themselves to deal with possible future difficulties – so called ‘living wills’.

Reform also means empowering consumers to hold banks to account by taking collective action to get redress. We will require the financial services sector to fund independent consumer advice and education and ban credit card companies from sending consumers unsolicited credit card cheques.

As the economic recovery is established, we will legislate to require reductions in government borrowing in a fair and responsible way with the Fiscal Responsibility Bill. This will ensure the national debt returns to a sustainable level, with the Government accountable to Parliament rather than a new quango.

And as a key part of our strategy for growth, we will promote targeted investment that creates jobs and builds a modern green infrastructure for the digital age. The Digital Economy Bill is a key part of Labour’s active industrial strategy and will maintain and build on Britain’s leading position in the digital sector. It includes measures to ensure a competitive, modernised digital communications infrastructure, protect intellectual property and maintain plurality in regional news.

The Energy Bill will bring about a financial support mechanism to demonstrate carbon capture and storage at a commercial scale. It will also establish a mandatory social price support scheme to help more of the most vulnerable households with their energy bills, and requires the regulator, Ofgem, to ensure consumers get a better, fairer deal and access to secure, low carbon energy supplies.

Better protection for businesses, communities and homes from the risks of extreme weather as a result of climate change will be provided by the Flood and Water Management Bill. And the Child Poverty Bill will enshrine in law the Government’s commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020, defining what this means.

Fair chances for all: building the next generation of public services

A better Britain means world class public services underpinned by guarantees not gambles. So we are moving to a system, building on the achievements of the last 12 years, where patients, parents and local communities have enforceable rights over the services they receive - and front line staff have more freedom to shape services.

The Children, Schools and Families Bill will provide guarantees for parents and pupils, setting out what they can expect, with School Report Cards letting parents know how their school is performing and a new duty on local authorities to act when parents are unhappy. Where standards are unacceptably low, Ministers will be able to direct a local authority to issue a warning notice to a school and to close any school which fails to comply with a warning notice. We will also set out in law new guarantees for pupils and parents at all state schools, including curriculum reforms to equip young people with the skills they need to succeed, and a new entitlement to one-to-one tuition for children falling behind.

The Social Care Bill means the dignity of a new national care service: free personal care in their own homes for those with the highest need. From next October more than 275,000 of those with the greatest needs will be protected for good from charges and top-up fees for care in their own homes, funded by making the tough choices necessary to secure efficiencies in lower priority programmes. To help more people meet this aspiration we will also next year, begin to offer 130,000 older people needing care for the first time, six weeks of more personal intensive support designed to help all who want to remain in their homes. This will mean that those who have suffered from a stroke, fall or hospital stay will have the best possible opportunity to return to their homes and the intensive support to give them dignity confidence in doing so.

Fair rules: building a strong society

On crime, we will prioritise new ways to tackle the anti-social behaviour that still blights some estates and neighbourhoods. The Crime and Security Bill will protect communities by making parents take responsibility for their child’s antisocial behaviour, imposing parenting orders when a young person has breached an ASBO. The Bill will cut the time police spend on stop and search forms, help victims of domestic violence by allowing police to bar suspected perpetrators from their homes for fixed periods, set a six-year time limit on DNA record-keeping for adults whom are arrested but not charged, and introduce compulsory licensing for wheel clamping businesses.

The Digital Economy Bill will protect children through new age ratings for computer games. The Bribery Bill will equip prosecutors and courts to deal effectively with bribery at home and abroad.

With the Equality Bill (carried over) we will introduce a new public sector duty to narrow the gap between rich and poor, ban age discrimination outside the workplace, and introduce reporting for large employers on gender pay. And we will enact the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 to provide agency workers equal treatment with permanent staff on pay and holidays after 12 weeks in a job.

Rebuilding trust in a modern, democratic Britain

We must also restore confidence in our democratic institutions. The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill (carried over) contain measures to rebuild trust in our democracy by putting the civil service on a statutory footing, provide a power for the House of Lords to expel a member and end the by-election of hereditary peers. The draft House of Lords Reform Bill will set out how the Government will bring about a wholly or substantially elected second chamber of Parliament.

Britain in a fairer, safer world

We will also ensure a better world by extending Britain’s influence as a global force for good. Fulfilling our responsibilities means we must remain at the heart of Europe and a leading member of the wider international community. And a safer Britain means continuing to tackle the terrorist threat at source – in the borderlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill will implement in UK law the Convention on Cluster Munitions that bans the use, development production, stockpiling, retention or transfer of cluster munitions. And the draft International Development Bill will make binding the Government’s commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on international development by 2013.

Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills Pat McFadden MP today launched a new helpline for vulnerable workers enabling them to seek advice about their workplace rights and report abuses of those rights.

The new Pay and Work Rights helpline: 0800 917 2368 is part of a wider campaign to raise awareness of workplace rights introduced by the Labour Government. It will provide a unified point of contact for both employers and workers.

This new service has been developed in cooperation with employers, trade unions and the different enforcement agencies across Government.

The employment rights, all brought in to being under this Labour Government in question are:

• National Minimum Wage
• Agricultural Minimum Wage
• Working Time (48 hour average working week)
• Employment agency standards
• Gangmaster licensing

 Previously calls on each of these rights were taken by five separate Government bodies. Workers can now report abuses of these rights to one point of contact that can address multiple complaints.

The launch of the single helpline comes as a new poll showed that nearly half of people (48 per cent) wrongly thought employment agencies can charge workers a fee for finding them a job.

The helpline is based in Manchester and staffed by specialist, trained advisors able to offer help and advice. Information is then passed to the relevant enforcement body to take further action where appropriate.

Earlier this year the Government introduced three new rights which came into effect in April.

o       Extending the right to request flexible working

o       Increasing statutory holiday entitlement

o       Strengthening enforcement of the National Minimum Wage

These new rights build on a series of achievements by Labour which has delivered a fair deal in the modern workplace.

These measures are not happening by accident.  They are rights that would never have been introduced by a Conservative Government and shows the difference a Labour Government makes for hard-working people. 

New rights which came into force in April 2009

1. Increasing statutory holiday entitlement

·        From 1^st April 2009 statutory holiday entitlement increased by 4 days to 5.6 weeks for full-time workers (28 days), pro rata for part-timers, benefiting 6 million people.

·        The decision to extend the current statutory holiday entitlement reflects the number of permanent bank and public holidays. There are 8 permanent bank and public holidays in Great Britain.

·        This increase builds on the announcement in October 2007, where all workers have had the statutory right to at least 4.8 weeks paid annual leave (that’s 24 days paid holiday if you work five days a week).

2. Extending the right to request flexible working

·        From 6^th April 2009 the right to request flexible working was extended to parents of children aged 16 or under, benefiting an extra 4.5 million people.

·        If you have a child aged 16 or under, you are an employee and you have worked for your employer for 26 weeks continuously before applying, you now have the statutory right to ask for flexible working.

·        Under the law your employer must seriously consider any application you make, and only reject it if there are good business reasons for doing so. You have the right to ask for flexible working - not the right to have it.

·        Previously, the right to request flexible working applied to employees with disabled children, or children under the age of six, and carers of adults. In 2008 14 million employees worked flexibly within the last 12 months with 91% of requests being granted.

3. Strengthening enforcement of the National Minimum Wage

·        It is the tenth anniversary since the National Minimum Wage was first paid. On this important anniversary Labour built on this achievement by significantly strengthening its enforcement so that everyone gets what they are legally entitled to.

·        Rogue employers who underpay staff by not meeting the NMW now face tough new penalties. We introduced a fairer method for dealing with national minimum wage arrears, calculated so that workers do not lose out as a result of underpayment. And employers breaking the law now face automatic penalties with a maximum penalty for non-payment of up to a potentially unlimited fine. The most serious cases of non-compliance will also be tried in a crown court.

·        The Employment Act 2008 came in to force on 6^th April 2009 meaning:

• Removal of the limit on maximum fines for underpayment of the national minimum wage, currently £5,000.

• The most serious cases of non-compliance will be tried at Crown Court, which can impose an effectively unlimited penalty

• Introducing a fairer way of dealing with national minimum wage arrears, calculated so workers do not lose out. In the last year alone the Government helped to restore £3.9 million in arrears to over 19,000 workers and has also increased the enforcement budget for the NMW by £2.9 million. This change will make calculating arrears easier.

The National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) provides a specialist ‘CSI-style’ analysis of all ballistics – effectively giving guns and bullets a ‘fingerprint’ which can be tracked.

Police across England and Wales are now able to match guns to offenders more quickly and trace which gun a bullet has been fired from when criminals are using it more than once. NABIS will support the police to solve crimes where firearms have been used quickly, identify the few individuals who import, store and supply illegal firearms and track down the people involved in illegally converting or adapting firearms.

Since NABIS began work three months ago, it has already linked over 100 incidents in which firearms have been discharged and have received over 700 items for analysis.

This announcement builds on the work teh Government is already leading to crack down on gun crime – such as The Tackling Gangs Action Programme, which in its first six months delivered a 51% reduction in firearms-related injuries in gun crime hot-spot areas. Latest quarterly figures showed a reduction of 29% in recorded firearms offences in July-September 2008 compared to the same period in 2007.

·

The Bill is part of Labour’s aim to deliver a fairer, more transparent and responsive criminal justice system that puts the needs of victims at its heart.

I believe that putting the needs of victims and the witnesses of crime at the heart of the criminal justice system is essential. People tell me that they want to know that justice is on the side of the law-abiding majority.

One of the most important measures is extending the use of “special measures” in criminal proceedings (such as the use of live video links and screens around the witness box) so that vulnerable and intimidated witnesses can give their best evidence.

Another is to bring Investigation Anonymity Orders that will protect the identity of witnesses from the moment they contact the police.

This will give witnesses more confidence to come forward and giving them the support they need to testify in court.   There will also be tougher Sentences for Public Protection for a greater number of offences - particularly those relating to terrorism.

It is a uniquely British event where the Queen reads out the Government’s legislation.  But behind the pomp and ceremony is important news for Hull West & Hessle.

Labour’s Legislative Programme will build on the Pre-Budget Report and will help equip people to meet the economic challenges facing our country as a result of global downturn.

This Government has always represented the interests of the many, not the few which is why this Queen’s Speech is about a fairer future for all, not just for some.

Fair chances

Our determination is that Britain is a country of fair chances where hard work is rewarded.

So we will provide real help for communities with investment in reformed public services to support the economy.

This means fairness for everyone through lifelong access to education, training and apprenticeships, as well as a health service that meets the needs of all patients.

Our commitment to a fair chance for all will be taken forward in bills to eradicate child poverty, to promote equality, to promote

Fair future

Fairness for all the savers who have worked hard to put money away for a rainy day, through new rules to stop banks getting into trouble alongside new protections for their savings if they do.

We are taking action now and the bills set out in the Queen’s Speech will strengthen the financial sector through the Banking Bill, support families and those on lower incomes to save through the Saving Gateway Accounts Bill and support local regeneration and housing.

Fair rules

Fair rules are about making sure that if you can’t or won’t contribute to this society, you don’t get rewarded.  Fair rules mean that if you can work, you must work.  We will help people make the most of their potential and the Welfare Reform Bill will help people find work.

We know individuals, families and businesses flourish in communities that are strong. A fairer future is built on communities where fair rules apply to all and where everyone can have a fair say. People need to know that there are clear rules in place which are seen to be fair, enforced and making a difference – on the streets and in the boardroom.

That means fairness for communities that want a crackdown on crime, a fairer say in how their communities are policed, tougher measures on crime and punishment and migrants that play by the rules.

Our package of laws will help promote fair rules with tough measures to punish and prevent crime. We will strengthen the border and ensure earned citizenship.