Labour’s Steve Reed on King’s Speech: ‘There’s nothing here, literally nothing.’

SHADOW Environment Secretary Steve Reed MP has slammed the King’s Speech for containing “practically nothing”.

He told GB News: “Well, first of all, looking at the package as a whole, I think all of us were astonished, and I’d say it’s on both sides of the house really, at just how little there was in there.

“We’ve got a country crying out for change and yet the Government is opening up this legislative agenda for the final term of Parliament and there’s practically nothing in there.

“This is Rishi Sunak’s first ever King’s Speech, his first chance to show us who he is, and perhaps in a way he did show us who he is and what he stands for, because there’s nothing here, literally nothing.”

Speaking to Martin Daubney, he continued: “You could get this legislation through Parliament in a few weeks and then we could get the General Election.

“Well, if that’s all he’s interested in doing, let’s do it because change is clearly not going to come from this failed Conservative government, it can only come with a General Election and the election of a Labour government focused on a decade of national renewal.”

On new North Sea oil exploration, Reed said: “The Conservatives are saying they’re going to keep giving more licences to drill North Sea oil.

“What Labour’s saying is we won’t take away any of the licences that have been given, but we need to move away from fossil fuels, from oil and gas, which have proved themselves so insecure, so expensive.

“They’re the reason that household bills have gone up so high. If we really want to cut people’s household energy bills, we have to transition to more sustainable forms of energy that we can develop here at home in the UK.

“Take back control of our energy, if you like, with wind, wave, solar, nuclear, no longer dependent on foreign tyrants like Vladimir Putin for our energy.”