What Did Boris Johnson And Jeremy Corbyn Say In Response To Queen's Speech?

14 October 2019, 16:47

Jeremy Corbyn and Prime Minister Boris Johnson both addressed the Queen's Speech. Here is an overview of the main things they said.

What did Jeremy Corbyn say?

- "There has never been such a farce as a government with a majority of -45 and a 100% record of defeat in the House of Commons setting out a legislative agenda they know cannot be delivered in this Parliament."

- "We may only be weeks away from the first Queen's Speech of a Labour government."

- "This government has had 3.5 years to get Brexit done and they've failed. The only legitimate way to get Brexit done is to let people decide and get the final say."

- "The government's own figures suggest a free trade agreement approach will cause a near 7% hit to our economy while a no-deal crash-out would cause a near 10% hit. These sound like the opportunities we could all live with out."

- "At the weekend, I was in Hastings on the south coast where last year food banks, staffed by volunteers, distributed 87,453 meals. 1/7 people in that town live in fuel poverty. Are those not shocking figures in this country in the 21st century?"

- "This Queen's speech today was supposed to herald an end to austerity and a new vision, instead it barely begins to unpick the devastating cuts to public services."

- "Our NHS has suffered the longest funding squeeze in its history, life expectancy is falling and infant mortality is rising."

- "They cannot be trusted with the NHS. Waiting lists are going up, waiting times are going up and the shortage of GPs is causing problems at all surgeries."

- "If the PM really wants to defend the NHS, he needs to end privatisation so that our NHS is focused on making people better, not people on the make. A universal service free at the point of use."

- "In the last Queen's Speech, in 2017, it stated 'my government will reform mental health legislation and ensure mental health is prioritised in the NHS in England'. Two years on, all we have is still the warm words."

- "This Queen's Speech is shockingly weak on education."

- "The privatisation of the probation service was a shambolic and costly failure. I hope that lessons have been learned."

- "Only a Labour government will cut fares and ensure the railways are run for passengers, and not for profits."

- "Labour will end no-fault evictions, we will tackle the leasehold scandal and kickstart the largest council house building project in a generation."

- "We will not allow this government to stifle democracy by making it harder for people to vote. There was only one incident of vote impersonation in the last election."

- "In the shadow of the Windrush Scandal, the settled status scheme for EU citizens risks another round of the wrongful denial of rights and shameful deportations."

- "The government is continuing to cosy up to Donald Trump."

- "I pay tribute to the climate school strikers and to Extinction Rebellion. Sadly, the government hasn't listened."

- "It's Labour that will bring forward a green new deal to tackle the climate emergency."

- "The PM promised that this Queen's Speech would dazzle us. On closer inspection, it is nothing more than fool's gold."

What did Boris Johnson say?

- "As we prepare to get Brexit done by October 31st, we are setting out now our vision of an open, global, free-trading Britain."

- "In important respects, this country is the greatest place to live and to be. The greatest place on earth."

- "We can all see the Soviet era expulsions that are taking place in his circle as, one by one, are being purged."

- "We will strengthen the UK, he would break it up."

- "There will be measures coming forward as a result of this Queen's Speech which will do more to protect our armed services."

- "We will stand up for religious freedom in all our doings and in all our foreign policy."

- "He wants to dither and delay, whereas we want to get on a deliver Brexit on 31st October."

- "I hope very much that, in spite of some of our differences, he will support at least some of the measures in the gracious speech."

- "At the heart of this speech, is an ambitious programme to unite our country with energy and optimism but also the basic common sense of One Nation Conservatism."

- "This government understands that nobody can escape justice for a crime that they have committed. We also understand that there should be no unfair prosecution when no new evidence has been produced."

- "Today, we announce a new programme to purge online harms form the internet and to invest massively in youth clubs."

- "We have fantastic NHS staff, the best in the world, and it is time to give them the funding and facilities that they deserve."

- "This government is doubling spending on climate change to £11.6bn. That is a colossal sum. More than any other country. We are leading the world in tackling climate change."

- "I think it's frankly insane to scrap Ofsted with no plan to put anything in its place."

- "I find it most peculiar that the leader of the Liberal Democrats has been off to see Barnier in Brussels to beg him not to give this country a deal. A really quite extraordinary state of affairs."

- "We will invest in roads across the country and fleets of clean, green buses because we understand that is the way to create the platform for economic growth."

- "They don't like business to flourish but we need it, don't we?"

- "The destruction Labour would do to business is the single gravest concern that this country faces, far greater than any fears they might have had about a no-deal Brexit."

- "Let's not wait. We can't wait. Let's get Brexit done."

- "If we can get a deal, I think it will be the will of the people to move that deal forward. Because that is the way to get on with the priorities of the British people.

- "If there could be one thing more divisive, more toxic than the first referendum, it would be a second referendum. Let's get Brexit done."

- "Brexit will bring all sorts of commercial, economic and also humanitarian objectives and I think it is very relevant to the concerns of this country that we will be able to ban the exports of live animals."

- "We have a vision of a balanced and just and fair society."