Poor reviews for Queen's Speech

Bad press for Blair - but better for Tory leader

Iain Duncan Smith will have read the newspapers on Thursday with more relish than he has been used to in recent weeks.

The Queen's Speech comes under attack from almost all quarters, while there are crumbs of comfort for the Tory leader after his recent troubles.

There is little front-page coverage for the speech - while opinion columns are critical amid concern over civil liberties, "sticking plaster solutions" for law and order and a lack of big ideas from the government.

The Daily Telegraph focuses on what it says were "surprise gaps" in the speech, with expected bills on mental health and corporate manslaughter not mentioned.

It also has praise for Mr Duncan Smith's "effective" speech, and scorns Labour for plans which it says lack the boldness Tony Blair promised at his party's conference in October.

The paper says the legislative programme outlined marks more centralisation of power at Westminster alongside "a comprehensive attack on the safeguards and liberties of the British legal system".

It was enough to make the speech "deeply depressing", the paper says.

There is support for Mr Duncan Smith in the The Sun.

'Desperate'

In an editorial, the paper says the Tory leader "oozed confidence" with "well-aimed" attacks on the government in his speech.

The Times questions the government's strategy on crime, saying the plans "smack of a desperate attempt to compensate for a dire arrest rate by driving up the number of guilty verdicts".

And the paper warns the prime minister that he is in danger of "needlessly making enemies out of sympathisers" with measures to restrict jury trials, end "double jeopardy" and allow a defendant's previous convictions to be revealed.

The Guardian criticises what it says is "an urge to legislate verging on mania".

It says problems with criminal justice are not down to the need for new laws, punishments and court systems, but because there has been too much change in the last 15 years. Ministers are "playing politics with crime", the paper says.

'Depressing'

The Independent examines the law and order proposals on its front page, while in a leader column says the speech underlined the need for reform of the monarchy and parliament.

Wednesday's events, after much of the speech had already been leaked, were "a depressing irrelevance", the paper says.

The Financial Times says the speech resembled a "traditional bran tub" and was "short on big ideas": "There are a couple of large packages lurking in the depths, but most of the bills looked like stocking fillers," the paper says.

The reason why there was not more in there, it says, is that instead of worrying about the outcome of the next general election - and therefore needing to push through legislation - "Labour has the advantage of knowing that it is certain to be re-elected".

"There is no reason why the bran tub in the next few years should not contain more heavyweight packages," the paper adds.

'Wearily familiar'

The Mirror says Labour is concentrating on a "new three Rs" - respect, rights and responsibility.

The Daily Mail says the plans revealed in the speech were "wearily familiar".

It says Labour is to blame for creating an anti-social society, eschewing marriage, undermining discipline in schools and sneering "at traditional structures in the classroom".

The paper says politicians should tackle "the underlying causes of yobbery instead of applying sticking plaster solutions".

The Express says it believes Tony Blair is determined to propose top-up tuition fees for university students - calling the plan a "poll tax on learning".

It quotes unidentified government sources as saying the prime minister is determined to go ahead with the plan. There was no reference to university cash in the Queen's Speech.