Yasmin Qureshi Labour Member of Parliament for Bolton South East
“It is disappointing that this Tory government has, once again, neglected to include enormous issues on its agenda.
“There was no mention of house building, no mention of abolishing the current system of personal independence payments, no mention of addressing the staff shortages in the NHS and no mention of reversing the unfair rules on pensions for women born in the 1950s.
“The most historic foreign policy disputes since the Second World War are Israel-Palestine and Kashmir, yet there was no mention of taking steps to address these.
“On counter-terrorism: rather than abolish and overhaul the ineffective and counterproductive ‘Prevent strategy’, this government seeks to extend it further with a new, highly discriminatory terror legislation that is both dangerous and divisive.
“We need a change of direction for Britain, with a legislative programme equal to the scale of the challenge our country faces. Instead, we have a Queen’s Speech that offers more of the same.”