Skip to main content
The Tories are launching a new authoritarian government
Looking at the changes to the law that have already happened and those now proposed together, it is clear that we have not faced such a drastic attack on our rights and freedoms since we gained the vote, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Prime Minister Boris Johnson

THE series of Bills outlined in the Queen’s Speech show that this government marks a radical departure from its predecessors — a radical shift rightwards.

Taken together the legislation proposed and laws already enacted make this a new type of authoritarian government in this country, one we have not seen previously in the era of the universal franchise.

No government which has Boris Johnson at its head and Priti Patel as its Home Secretary can be expected to be a champion of civil rights or a guardian against an over-mighty state. But this is something quite new.

Donate to the Fighting Fund
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Cartoon: Lewis
Features / 19 April 2025
19 April 2025
British Steel has vindicated what the left has said all along — nationalisation of our key industries is common sense, and it’s the neoliberals who are now clearly the ideologically driven zealots, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Diane Abbott
Features / 5 April 2025
5 April 2025
DIANE ABBOTT MP points out the false premises used by Rachel Reeves in the Spring Statement
LK
Features / 22 March 2025
22 March 2025
With young people, the disabled and the elderly in Labour’s sights as ‘easy targets’ for cuts, the labour movement must remember it’s in the vital interests of us all to defend the groups being picked off, writes DIANE ABBOTT MP
Keir Starmer, front center, hosts the European leaders' summ
Features / 8 March 2025
8 March 2025
As European leaders compete to increase military spending while threatening welfare cuts, the burden will fall disproportionately on working people and minority communities, warns DIANE ABBOTT MP
Similar stories
People take part in a national demonstration for Gaza from R
Editorial: / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
Keir Starmer
Features / 11 September 2024
11 September 2024
As Western liberal democracies crack down on journalists and activists, CLAUDIA WEBBE urges resistance against the Labour government’s part in this slide towards Saudi-style repression