Helen and Stephen discuss what was left out, watered down and generally squished around in the Queen’s Speech – from prison reform to fox hunting – and what kind of stage it sets for the coming parliamentary term. Will Labour’s stance on immigration have to change? And what Brexit deal could secure a parliamentary majority? Clue: it’s a royal mess.
Quotes of the episode:
Helen on domestic violence: “The big lesson of the last couple of weeks is that the involvement of domestic violence in Terror has finally made (slightly more men) take it slightly more seriously. As actually now it becomes part of an anti-radicalisation process.”
Stephen on Conservative strategy: “If you look at the back end of the Conservative government in the 90s: when your parliamentary situation is rocky, the best way of dealing with that is just for parliamentary not to sit all that much. Don’t bring the pain.”
Helen on Brexit: “There is an interesting complacency about the dominance and attractiveness of the British economy […] whereas actually our economy has recovered quite badly and our productivity is still quite low. I wouldn’t be that smug about the British economy.”
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