Boris Johnson has again failed to keep his promise to fix Britain’s broken social care system, after including just nine words about it in the Queen’s Speech.
In June 2019, as he took office, the Prime Minister promised to fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have prepared.”
But 22 months on, no details of the plan have yet been published - as the Treasury and No 10 struggle to reach agreement on the cost.
And today’s Queen’s Speech, which many hoped would include concrete details of the plan, contains only a nine-word statement that “proposals on social care reform will be brought forward.”
The government has committed to outlining the plan before the end of the year - but neither the speech nor documents published alongside it contain any hint of what it might include.
The Mirror's 'Fair Care for All' campaign demands that the elderly are afforded proper care, dignity and security in old age and not abandoned.
The pandemic has significantly increased the need for social care, with one in four elderly people finding it harder to carry out everyday activities.
Analysis published by Age UK today showed that 23% of people aged 60 and over found activities like using the stairs, walking short distances, washing and preparing food had worsened.
Despite repeatedly claiming the public wanted him to get on with their priorities, he used the speech to launch a string of culture-war crackdowns and impose draconian voting restrictions.
Mr Johnson will give himself the power to call elections, restrict legal challenges against his policies and make voters show ID.
Far-right speakers who are ‘cancelled’ by universities could seek compensation in court, and refugees who’ve passed through France will be banned from claiming asylum in the UK.
Today’s Speech revealed the first glimpse of other new laws that are set to prove highly controversial down the line.
A Planning Bill vows to rip up red tape for housebuilding while a Procurement Bill will strip away legal barriers to dishing out government contracts.
Online junk food adverts will be banned totally online and before 9pm on TV - despite the PM’s past wars on the ‘nanny state’.
LGBT conversion therapy will be banned but not before yet another delay, with a new consultation set to be launched.
The Queen’s Speech vowed to “level up opportunities across all parts of the UK” - a central Tory promise of the 2019 election.
But while some bones of change are there, small print admits the full details will have to wait until a White Paper later this year.
There will however be a National Infrastructure Plan, rail and bus reform, and a new Skills Bill to extend student loans to all adults at any time in their life.
And tenants will get to use a single lifelong deposit and leaseholders will no longer have to pay ground rent.
