Following the State Opening of Parliament and The King’s Speech today (May 13th), Bradley said:
“The backdrop to today’s King's Speech cannot be ignored. We have a Prime Minister without a plan and a Government in chaos.
“The Government’s real problem is that it is not just Starmer - all the leadership contenders jostling for his job do not have the answers either. This Government in particularly just knows how to spend other people's money; they have no idea how to achieve economic growth. This Government has the wrong values – they are for more welfare, and they’re not on the side of people who work, people who strive and save.
“Keir Starmer entered government without a plan, and we saw what happened: he took away the winter fuel allowance, family farm tax, massive wages rises for the unions, none of which were in their manifesto. Now we are seeing the consequences: people are losing their jobs, and small businesses have been hit hardest. This Government is punishing people who are working hard to pay for an ever-increasing welfare bill.
“Not only that but the cost of government borrowing has shot up. We are paying more interest on government debt than on defence or education, but there's still more spending on welfare. The Iran war is not causing the problem. The Iran war has exposed how weak our financial situation was because of the Government’s bad choices, because Starmer and Reeves have no plan to cut government spending - especially welfare.
“Quite simply our country isn’t being governed right now. It’s being managed. But there is a better way forward for Bromsgrove and the Villages and for our country. There is an alternative.
“Kemi Badenoch’s Alternative King’s Speech is the culmination of eighteen months of detailed work by my party. A large chunk of it reverses mistakes made by previous Conservative governments, as well as a failed Westminster consensus of more than 20 years because changed leadership means a different approach.
“We’ve thought seriously about what the country needs, and our Alternative King’s Speech shows we have a clear plan to deliver it. It’s made up of 16 clearly set out plans spanning welfare, immigration, crime, energy, and defence.
“Our key priorities include leaving the ECHR to get a grip on illegal immigration, scrapping Stamp Duty, approving new drilling licences in the North Sea, reforming the welfare system to get people back to work, scrapping business rates for high street firms, and properly funding our armed forces.
“We have set out 16 Bills to deliver these plans, and we're just getting started because we’re not going to make the same mistake as Keir Starmer and not be ready to govern from day one.
“So, if you want a country with strong borders, a country that is properly defended, a country that is a great place to start and run a business, and a country where the law is upheld, this Alternative King’s Speech delivers exactly that.”
