Well, after 10 years of waiting, and Gordon’s Brown’s first Queen Speech. What a disappointment. Gordon Brown could have offered real change, a real break from the Blair age of spin. Instead, he offered re-announcements of policies, and very little movement to a greener, more business friendly, family friendly Britain as offered by David Cameron.
Take the announcement to raise the leaving age for school to 18. We already have problems with truancy with the current set of children - what problems will we have with 17 and 18 year-olds. An announcement which would have given real choice to parents and young people would have been to offer a breadth of options for post-16 education, employment and training.
Take another announcement, on yet another regulator, this time to fine hospitals which fail hygiene standards. Why not announce a new generation of hospital matrons, with real power to clean up hospitals.
The reason is that this government, as with the Labour Party at all levels of the country, just hasn’t got to grasps with the opportunities and challenges this country faces. We need localised public services, not the NHS and Schools run from Whitehall. We need power given to the public service professionals, not to statistical targets set in London. What we do need is real change, not the illusion of change offered by Gordon Brown. What we need, is a Conservative Government.
