Not everyone was happy with the King’s speech yesterday. Any MP has the right to table amendments to the King’s speech. If the majority of MPs support it, parliament can change the government’s agenda. A total of 5 amendments have been proposed. Is it possible that they’ll succeed, or will the government win out?
How Do Amendments to The King’s Speech Work?
If passed, an amendment to the King’s Speech changes the government’s objectives. Typically, the official opposition are guaranteed one amendment to the King’s speech, with three selected on the discretion of the speaker.
It is incredibly rare for an amendment to the king’s speech to pass. The passing of an amendment is seen as a crippling blow to a government’s authority, showing that they are incapable of commanding a majority.
Amendments can still change policy, however. In 2017, an amendment by Labour MP Stella Creasy to guarantee NHS-funded abortions in Northern Ireland saw dozens of Conservative MPs pledge their support. As a result, the government quickly announced their support for the amendment. If threatened with the embarrassment of rebellion, governments can be willing to accept the embarrassment of a U-Turn.
Whilst the scale of Labour’s majority makes a successful amendment highly unlikely, a significant number of MPs have already shown support for several amendments. However, with only two weeks in government, Keir Starmer will likely try his best to not set the precedent that he can be pushed around by his backbench.
A “Transformative Programme”
Amendment A, proposed by Jeremy Corbyn, as well as all of the Green’s MPs didn’t focus on a single issue, but instead appeared to set out a parallel policy platform. The amendment called for everything from utility nationalisation to a “fair electoral system”, likely referring to proportional representation.
Corbyn likely hopes that he can influence MPs towards supporting leftist economic policies by keeping these ideas in the national debate.
Given the breadth of measures opposed to the government’s current platform, it is unlikely that left-wing Labour MPs will support the amendment in significant numbers. It is difficult to believe that Starmer would reverse all of its previous positions due to a single amendment. However, left-wing MPs may think that they can influence Labour on more specific issues.
A Weapons Embargo on Israel
Labour MP Zarah Sultana announced that she would table an amendment for the government to “suspend arms sale to Israel” and to accept the ICC’s jurisdiction regarding the Netanyahu cabinet in a Guardian op-ed yesterday. 22 MPs have so far announced their support for the amendment.
Sultana’s op-ed was keen to not criticize the Labour Party’s record on Gaza, instead shifting the “eternal shame” on the Conservatives. Sultana instead tried to emphasise that “these hardly radical demands” were not outside the status quo, citing arms embargos that both Conservative and Labour governments had enacted on Israel and the majority support for such measures.
Sultana’s wording seems designed to win over more moderate MPs to attempt to shift policy, rather than to draw attention to draw attention to the government’s failings as these amendments often are.
Sultana is the youngest Muslim MP in British history, and has significant national popularity among young, Muslim and progressive voters; all traditional Labour blocs who feel disenchanted with Starmer’s leadership. Jeremy Corbyn announced his support for this amendment. With Sultana leading the charge for this amendment, Labour whipping votes against it will likely cause the rift with these demographics to grow further.
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has the right to choose whether a non-opposition amendment like this is debated. Given that only one of the five focus on Gaza, it is entirely possible that Hoyle could reject this amendment for debate. Given the Speaker’s previous controversy on breaking parliamentary protocol on this issue, this could cause renewed criticism regarding Hoyle’s role.
This amendment will likely gain the support of five of the six independent MPs, the four Green Party, the 2 SDLP MPs and possibly a large number of the LibDem’s 72 MPs, however, it is unlikely that any Conservatives will. The government’s main obstacle will be from inside their own party.
Two Child Benefit Cap
Four of the five amendments tabled yesterday supported ending Labour’s benefit cap. As mentioned in our previous article, the maintaining of the two-child benefit cap in the king’s speech drew renewed outcry from a number of Labour figures.
Labour have announced a ‘task-force’ to propose solutions to child poverty, but has not directly supported scrapping the benefit cap. According to analysis by the ‘End Child Poverty Coalition’, removing the cap would bring 250,000 children out of poverty.
The government has suggested that the cap may eventually be scrapped, but that this could only be done after the taskforce had confirmed that this was the best policy.
As opposed to Gaza, the government’s position on the two-child cap drew criticism from more establishment figures within the party. This is why Labour’s position has been increasingly ambiguous on the issue. Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar stated last week that him and other Labour officials calling for the scrapping of the cap were “pushing on an open door”.
An amendment proposed by SNP’s Westminster leader has received the most attention, with the LibDems, the Greens and Plaid Cymru pledging support, alongside a number of Labour MPs.
Given Labour’s frequent reiteration of the importance of the poverty task-force, even if the government does decide to reverse the cap, it is unlikely that it will do so before the task-force’s report. It is unclear whether all Labour MPs will be convinced by the government’s need to avoid a flip-flop when voting on amendments.
Final Thought
A government defeat tomorrow looks unlikely. The Conservatives are not known for their support for Gaza or expanding welfare.
Labour has so far remained more in the centre than some analysts had expected. Whilst it’s possible that the government could attempt to reclaim left-wing supporters as its term progresses, doing so by accepting amendments would show weakness, rather than an intentional policy shift. If anything is clear about Starmer’s leadership, it is that he deeply fears being seen as being pulled around by radical elements of his party.
This is the difference between Labour in 2024 and the Conservatives in 2017. Whilst supporting the right to abortion in Northern Ireland played into a narrative of a modern and progressive Conservative Party, Labour conceding on any of these issues, despite their national popularity, will break the narrative of a strong, pragmatic, non-ideological Labour Party.
If Labour does eventually reverse its position on any of these issues, it will be done as far away from the King’s speech as possible.
For more of Chamber UK’s British political analysis please click here.
This article was written by Chamber UK’s features writer – Alex Connor.