"Queen's Speech a lost opportunity" says Rowen

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen has described today's Queen's speech as a 'lost opportunity,' as Gordon Brown set out his election battle lines.

The Queen's speech sets out the government's legislative programme for the new session of parliament and, with the general election due by 3 June next year at the latest, ministers have little time to ensure legislation reaches the statute book.

Paul Rowen said: "For me, this speech showed a complete lack of reality from our Government about the state Britain today. It simply didn't go far enough to tackle the real issues that people in Rochdale are worried about such as unemployment, local health services and Afghanistan. The Queen's speech was a political charade and a lost opportunity for this country."

Mr Rowen added: "The Government had the chance to show the public, before the general election, that Parliament is serious about bringing in measures to reform politics after the expenses scandal which destroyed its own legitimacy. Not in living memory has confidence in politicians, trust in the system or faith in the Government's capacity to change things been as low as it is today. I would have liked to have seen our parliament introduce the necessary reforms to gain back this trust such as the power for constituents to recall MPs suspended for misconduct and the introduction of a code of conduct for the candidates in the next election.