London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2025

What can we expect in Thursday's Queen's speech?

What can we expect in Thursday's Queen's speech?

Brexit and NHS to take precedence, including funding and changes to hospital car park charges
Slightly less than 10 weeks since the last Queen’s speech, the monarch will again be summoned to parliament on Thursday to outline the government’s legislative programme, with ministers hoping to push measures about the NHS and other public spending.

The bulk of the speech will be familiar to those who sat through its equivalent on 14 October, when Boris Johnson’s government outlined its legislative plans despite no majority and a seemingly imminent election, which came to pass last week.

The Queen’s speech is the centrepiece of the new state opening of a new session of parliament, usually an annual event. Given the short time-lapse, Thursday’s opening will be a pared-back version, with the Queen arriving by car rather than golden carriage.

Unveiling 26 bills in October, the government sought to highlight election-ready plans for tougher jail sentences, among seven bills devoted to law and order.

The chosen highlight for Thursday will be a new, largely symbolic bill to put into statute the government’s commitment to spend an extra £33bn-plus a year on the NHS by 2023-24.

With Johnson now safely returned to No 10 with an 80-seat majority, one helped by success in many northern English towns that have traditionally voted Labour, the Downing Street focus is now more firmly fixed on the NHS and other austerity-combating spending boosts.

The government plans to make the NHS Funding bill the first legislation passed, following scrutiny of the Withdrawal Agreement bill (Wab), which lays down the legal framework for Johnson’s Brexit deal. MPs are due to first vote on this on Friday.

Other promised legislation in the Queen’s speech will include easier visa systems for overseas medical staff to enter the UK amid the post-Brexit shakeup of the immigration system and measures to make it simpler for hospitals to manufacture and trial new medicines.

Another NHS-based bill will change the current system of hospital car parking charges, abolishing them for groups such as disabled people, those with children who are inpatients, and staff working night shifts.

Other elements of the legislative programme remain to be seen. For example, it appears likely that any commitments to maintain EU rights on employment after Brexit will not now be contained in the Wab, but will be laid out in separate legislation.

The Wab, expected to be published on Friday, will be amended to include another symbolic legislative element – barring the government from extending the post-Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020.

While Brexit remains a primary focus, in an echo of the simple, repetitive Conservative messages of the election campaign, Johnson and his ministers are seeking to hammer home their policies on supporting the NHS.

On Wednesday, Johnson hosted NHS frontline staff for a reception at Downing Street, telling them they were “doing an incredible job”.

Citing election-familiar and much-disputed promises to build 40 new hospitals and have 50,000 more NHS nurses, Johnson told the staff: “We are now putting the biggest investment in the NHS in living memory. We have to keep that investment going. We have to keep supporting you.”

Emphasising the message, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, used the first major speech by a cabinet minister since last week’s election to talk up the policy of a partial reintroduction of bursary grants for student nurses.

Answering questions after the speech in London, Hancock denied that the government was being forced to clear up its own mistakes, after the Conservatives abolished student nurse bursaries in 2016.

The announcement of the grants of up to £8,000 a year follows repeated warnings about falls in the number of would-be nurses since the Conservatives abolished the bursaries, also making student nurses pay tuition fees of up to £9,000 a year.

But Hancock denied the plan was an admission of error: “This training grant is different to the offer previously. It is more targeted, and in the last few years, when it hasn’t been in place, we have seen the number of nurses increase by 5,000 in the last year. That is good, but 5,000 a year is about half the rate we need to be at to be reaching 50,000.”

He said the announcement had been rushed through ahead of the 15 January deadline for university applications. The money, which begins in September 2020, will also be available for those part-way through courses.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
×