THE first meeting of a British Labour cabinet for 18 years yesterday approved an ambitious package of legislation aimed at immediately putting into practice the party's election pledges. Education is the centrepiece of the list of 22 Bills in the queen's speech discussed by the cabinet at Downing Street.
Ministers agreed unanimously to fulfil their promise made in opposition not to take their recommended pay rises this year. The total salary of the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, including his pay as an MP, will therefore be £102,417 and that of the rest of the cabinet, £87,851.
The government confirmed that it is committed to action on freedom of information. There is no timetable as yet for a Bill, however.
On the contentious issue of reform of the House of Lords, Downing Street has refused to comment on speculation that Labour's proposals will not be in the queen's speech and may have to be put off.
There will be two education Bills, one cutting class sizes and one aimed at raising standards in schools. The legislation will fulfil pledges on a General Teaching Council to speak for and raise standards in the profession; giving more power to parents with representation on local education authorities; qualifications for head teachers; new measures to remove failing teachers; the use of private-public finance to repair school buildings and improvement teams for failing local education authorities.
While the Prime Minister stressed the need to be business-like, he began by telling his ministers to dispense with their formal titles and call each other by their first names.
The full contents of the queen's speech will not be published until next Wednesday, but the main details of the package are known. They include Bills to:
. Allow referendums this autumn on setting up a Scottish parliament and Welsh assembly
. Introduce a national minimum wage
. End the internal market in the National Health Service
. Enable fast-track punishment for persistent young offenders
. Give greater independence to the Bank of England
The Chancellor's "welfare-to-work" budget in July, aimed at getting the unemployed off benefit and into jobs or training, was also discussed yesterday. The queen's speech will refer to a Finance Bill - which will enact that budget - by which Labour intends to reduce VAT on fuel from 8 per cent to 5 per cent and introduce a windfall tax on the privatised utilities.
Ministers also agreed to ask Lord Nolan's Committee on Standards in Public Life to investigate funding of political parties. Labour wants all donations of more than £5,000 to be made public and it wants to see a halt to large donations from overseas.
The sudden death meanwhile of a Tory MP has sparked inevitable speculation about its potential impact on the Conservative leadership contest.
Sir Michael Shersby, MP for Uxbridge, died at his London home, aged 64. He had represented the seat since 1972 but saw his majority - which had been 13,179 in 1992 - slashed last week to just 724.
Last night it seemed likely that some of the leading Tories who failed to get elected last Thursday, including Mr Michael Portillo, Mr Michael Forsyth and Mr Norman Lamont, might at least be considering whether to put their names forward as potential candidates for the by-election, to pick Sir Michael's successor.
However, the timing may well make it unlikely to change the shape of the leadership race. According to one authoritative source, the former cabinet ministers might feel it too risky to fight what is now a marginal seat which they could well lose so soon after the general election defeat.
The leadership race itself may turn the spotlight, once again, on Tory divisions on Europe, it was learned last night, with the possible entry of the right-wing MP, Mr Bill Cash. Speculation that the Euro-sceptic MP was about to join the race came after friends said he felt that the six candidates who had put themselves forward had not been clear enough on Europe.
If he decided to join the fray, it would undoubtedly be a blow to Conservative hopes of turning attention away from a subject that has split the party and is blamed as one of the main reasons for its disastrous defeat at the polls.