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Queen's Speech

My Lords, I want to say something about the proper sphere of the law. The law is not about government statements of intent, policy declarations or general exhortations. It is not a branch of the media or of the postal services for this or any other Government to send messages to the general populace—and certainly not to the voters. In the legislative programme outlined in the Queen’s Speech, the Government propose to introduce the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, ""to require reductions in the deficit, with the aim of ensuring that the national debt returns to a sustainable path in the medium term"." The purpose is stated to be to, ""put the Government’s deficit reduction plan on a statutory footing, in order to halve the deficit over four years and put debt on a sustainable path in the medium term"." What is the purpose of a statutory footing? What happens if the targets are not met? Will it be justiciable by an independent judiciary in the courts? A Government cannot sue themselves. Is it conceivable that an Opposition, the Governor of the Bank of England or anyone else could take a future Administration before a judge and ask for an order to compel them to act in accordance with this legislation? It is patently absurd.