Government promising "radical" Queen's Speech

Nov 25 2003 by Nic Paton Print This Article

Bills on corporate manslaughter, fees for higher education, identity cards and pensions are likely to included in tomorrow's Queen's Speech, commentators have predicted.

The speech, which is being billed by the Government as its most radical yet, is also likely to include regulations to crack down on terrorism, illegal immigration and failed asylum seekers.

A "big theme" is expected to be measures to improve opportunities for everyone from babies to pensioners.

A civil partnership bill is expected to allow same sex couples to register their relationship and gain the same tax and inheritance rights as married couples.

Business leaders, for one, have urged the Government to include its long-promised legislation on corporate manslaughter in the speech. The Institute of Directors has said the legislation should be made a reality so that companies, rather than individual directors, can be prosecuted if an employee is killed in the workplace because of employer negligence. The Government promised to introduce the law as far back as 1997 but, as yet, it has failed to be brought before Parliament.

IoD director general George Cox, said: "The IoD has been calling for corporate manslaughter legislation for a number of years, not because we want to see a proliferation of legislation, but because the current state of the law on this issue is unsatisfactory.

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