Here is a glance of policy highlights from Britain’s new coalition government:
— Economy: Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged an emergency budget within 50 days. The coalition wants to speed a reduction in the budget deficit, with plans to cut 6 billion pounds (US$9 billion) of government waste in this fiscal year ending in April. It also plans to stop an increase in the national insurance tax. The tax system will be reformed in phases to ease the burden on lower and middle incomes; the eventually goal is that those earning less than 10,000 pounds ($15,000) will pay no tax. The coalition promised tougher action against bankers’ bonuses and more regulatory power for the Bank of England, and a new committee will consider the possibility of separating retail banking from investment banking.
— Political Reform: One of the Liberal Democrats’ key demands for joining the coalition government was overhauling Britain’s current voting system, which gives disproportionate advantage to the two larger parties. Cameron’s Conservatives promised a referendum on the “alternative vote” electoral system, under which voters rank candidates by preference and second-choice votes are allocated if no candidate wins 50 percent of the first preference votes. The result could give Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg’s party more seats eventually. Laws will also be changed to introduce five-year fixed-term parliaments.
— Defense and Security: A new National Security Council will convene Wednesday to oversee all aspects of British security. The council will focus on policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as review the terrorist threat to Britain. A strategic defense review is set to begin soon. Clegg’s party has dropped its outright opposition to replacing Britain’s fleet of nuclear-armed submarines, but Cameron has promised to more closely scrutinize the 20 billion pound ($32 billion) program.
— Foreign Policy: New Foreign Secretary William Hague said that Britain’s relationship with the U.S. will be “solid but not slavish” and that the so-called special relationship remained of huge importance. Britain will make it clear that no further powers will be ceded to the EU without referendum, and that the country will not join the euro in the next five years. There also will be new efforts to secure good relations with economic powerhouses in South Asia, North America and Latin America. Cameron promises inroads with India, Britain’s former colony and a potential major trading partner.
— Immigration: An annual cap is expected on immigration from outside the EU to address worries that Britain was becoming overcrowded and that Britons were losing jobs to foreigners willing to take lower wages.
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