UK govt sets out big plans, but little cost of living relief

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government has set out its agenda for the next year, with sweeping promises to cut crime, improve health care and revive the U.K.’s pandemic-scarred economy. But there was no new help for millions of Britons struggling to pay their bills as the cost of living soars. The government laid out its plans in the next year in a tradition-steeped ceremony — but without Queen Elizabeth II, who was absent for the first time in six decades. The 96-year-old monarch pulled out of the Queen’s Speech ceremony in Parliament because of what Buckingham Palace calls “episodic mobility issues.” Her son and heir, Prince Charles, stood in, reading a short speech Tuesday laying out 38 bills the government plans to pass.