Methodists Greet Queen’s Pledge to Tackle Poverty & Anti-Social Behaviour

On Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain delivered her annual speech as the Prime Minister Tony Blair commenced his third term. The Queen introduced the domestic policy that will be launched by the Labour Government, which will focus on tackling world poverty and anti-social behaviours among youths. The Methodist Church of the Great Britain warmly welcomed the Queen’s speech.

With the UK hosting the G8 gathering of powerful world leaders in July as well as holding the presidency of the European Union (EU) for the second half of the year, the UK will be greatly influential on the world stage in 2005. Therefore, the government is being pressed to take the role of leadership to make a difference to the Third World.

Make Poverty History, a UK-based global anti-poverty initiative, demands the Prime Minister to put the crisis of world poverty at the top of his agenda and lead the world to Make Poverty History in 2005. Over 2.5 million campaigners have highlighted the issue to Downing Street by sending letters and postcards to Blair at last week’s monthly press conference.

Anthea Cox, Coordinating Secretary for Public Life and Social Justice of the Methodist Church of Great Britain said in a statement, "There are several items in the Queen's Speech that the Methodist Church supports. In particular, the Government's plans to use its presidency of the G8 to secure progress in tackling poverty and climate change is very welcome, as is the commitment to rural services and to cutting poverty in the UK."

"We also look for the Government to support the goals of the Make Poverty History movement at the United Nations Millennium Review Summit and the World Trade Organisation meeting in Hong Kong."

Nevertheless, the Methodist Church is concerned about certain issues. Cox continued, "We are glad that the Government will introduce measures to tackle alcohol-related violence, but the Church has been stressing for some time that this is an increasing problem, and that changes to licensing regulations introduced this year are likely to make the situation worse."

In March, the Methodist Church, Salvation Army and National Children’s Home (NCH) staged a joint nationwide signing petition to persuade the government to stop passing the new gambling bill.

The gambling bill will allow machines with unlimited stakes and prizes to operate in casinos. The Churches have rebuked the proposals and said that these machines are very likely to cause more addiction compared to other ways of gambling. The bill was said to increase the risk of problem gambling in the UK, especially among the adolescents or vulnerable people.

"We are also concerned that legislation on the immigration and asylum system, although aimed at producing a 'fair and flexible' system, will be adversely influenced by the highly negative view of asylum promoted by some parties during the General Election," Cox said in the statement.

The statement concluded, "As always, we offer our prayers and support to all MPs and working peers as they consider these issues. The UK’s leadership of the EU and the G8 gives us a rare chance to act as an influence for positive change, and we hope that this opportunity is not wasted."