Brown draws battle lines for the coming election

The 2010 general election campaign just got started. Gordon Brown and his Cabinet used the Queen's Speech to lay out a programme of measures, not all of which will have time to make it into law before next May, but which will serve very nicely as a manifesto for the coming election.

Needless to say, Brown put economic recovery at the heart of his programme, telling the Commons that Labour was the "only party with the policies to build a long-term recovery". Other key bills are populist and designed to draw a line in the sand between Labour and the Tories.

Measures included in the Queen's Speech will:

• Clampdown on irresponsible bankers - the suits who continue to take too many risks in the City. Good stuff.

• Make it a legal obligation to halve the budget deficit within four years. Brilliant (especially if you're no longer in power).

• Give councils powers to prevent flooding. How can anyone object to that?

• Make it compulsory for wheel-clampers to have licences. Excellent. Get the bastards!

• Ensure that the DNA of more sex offenders is added to the national database. Again, no complaints.

• Guarantee children's schooling in England, including extra tuition for pupils who fall behind. Good.

Etcetera, etcetera... The Mole could go on but you get the picture. Check the BBC for a full list of bills if you wish.

As the Guardian's Polly Toynbee put it today, this was Labour saying: "We're not dead yet. We still have plenty of ideas."

Tory leader David Cameron made the point that the Queen's Speech had ignored all the difficult issues - immigration, the NHS, cleaning up Parliament.

"They have run out of money," he said of Labour, "they have run out of time, they have run out of ideas, and as we have just seen from the prime minister, they have run out of courage as well."

Cameron and the Lib Dems' Nick Clegg both attacked Brown for an electioneering programme - and they're right, of course. But would either leader do anything differently if they were in the same position? Of course not.

Six months to go. ·