Mr. Speaker—
I am appalled, simply appalled — though I cannot say I am surprised — by the program of government proposed in this Queen's Speech. What we have heard, Mr. Speaker, is a fantastic betrayal of the people of Britain, and especially those who voted for the Conservatives in the late election, believing (we now know incorrectly) that the elevation of Mrs. May to the leadership of her party signaled a new direction for the Tories. The forecast we have just heard, the defense by the government we have entertained, proves definitively what Labour has been saying now for weeks : Mayism is but Thatcherism by another name, and the Conservative Party remains Hell-bent on a policy of crony capitalism to elevate the interests of the few at the expense of the working class.
What vile pact is this, what base treachery to her own manifesto, that Mrs. May now proposes to endorse in her alliance with the parties to her right? Are we to believe that the same party who just weeks ago declared any referendum on the European question "the ultimate failure of policy and leadership" has now suddenly changed their minds? The fact is plain: either they lied then, or they lie now. I ask you, how can this House place so much as a grain of confidence in a government that has demonstrated, in such clear and unequivocal terms, that it will willing reverse its position on any issue at the drop of a hat in order to gain political power?
You have heard the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom stand before the House of Commons and pledge herself and her government to a policy of corporate handouts and favors to big business. This, I presume, is the new, moderate Toryism of which we have heard so much in the last weeks? Truly, it is a remarkable thing, this Queen's Speech, and I do the Prime Minister credit for it — never in my life have I heard anyone speak so strongly, and with such moral compulsion, for lining the pockets of the wealthy at the expense of the working class. Why, I predict that within a few years, Mrs. May will have been inducted into the pantheon of Sulla and Louis-Napoleon — leaders unmatched in their ability to take power away from the people, hand it to the elites, and pass the whole thing off as democratic reform.
I cannot, in good conscience, lend my voice or the voice of my party in support of this travesty of a government — and therefore I declare that the Labour Party will vote NAY on this Queen's Speech and will do all in our power to oppose the formation of a Conservative Ministry, come what may.
