Prime Minister Cameron announced yesterday that Michael Gove is to be Justice Secretary in the new Tory government, replacing Chris Grayling who is now to be leader of the House of Commons.
Gove’s appointment is a marked promotion from the position of chief whip, to which he had been demoted after his sacking as Education Secretary last year.
Gove was sacked by Cameron ahead of the general election in an attempt to placate the huge numbers of teachers he had thoroughly antagonised as a minister.
Gove had repeated run-ins with the teaching unions as well as a reported row with Home Secretary Theresa May.
As Justice Secretary, Gove will scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights. He will also take on the role of Lord Chancellor.
Nicky Morgan will remain as Education Secretary and Minister for Equalities and former Immigration Minister Mark Harper is chief whip.
Yesterday’s appointments followed Cameron’s earlier announcements that Chancellor Osborne, Home Secretary May, Foreign Secretary Hammond and Defence Secretary Fallon are to remain in place.
In the Queen’s Speech, which is expected to take place on May 27th, new anti-union laws to scrap the right to strike are to be announced as well as the scrapping of the Human Rights Act.
Also to be announced is that only English MPs are to have the vote on English laws, and the reintroduction of the ‘snooper’s charter’ to monitor all on-line activity.
There is to be a new Enterprise Bill that will cut red tape for small businesses as part of what the Conservatives say will be a drive to remove £10 billion worth of regulations from enterprises over the next five years.
A new Bill will create three million more cheap labour ‘apprenticeships’ which will be paid for by reducing the benefit cap, which was introduced by the last Tory-LibDem coalition at £26,000, down to £23,000.
A Bill will also introduce ‘Day One Work Requirements’ for unemployed young people with no work experience.
New laws will be brought in under plans to force ‘coasting’ schools – in addition to ‘failing’ schools – to accept new leadership.
A Housing Bill will open the door to the sale of 1.3 million housing association homes.
• Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has called for new tax and welfare powers to be devolved to Scotland as a ‘priority’.
Sturgeon said such powers would allow the Scottish government to grow the economy.
She added that she had spoken ‘briefly’ to Prime Minister Cameron but more discussions were required.
Sturgeon also claimed her party now provided the main opposition at Westminster.
Labour, with 232 MPs, are the official opposition but Sturgeon claimed her party, which gained 50 MPs on Thursday, was the one putting pressure on the Cameron government.
The SNP, which is now the third largest party in the UK, took 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland, reducing Labour to just one MP when they had previously had 41.
