Afternoon summary
- Boris Johnson received a boost when one of the most hardline Tory Brexiters signalled that he would back his revised plan for an alternative to the Irish backstop. (See 4.44pm.)
- Boris Johnson will not resign if his Queen’s speech is voted down by MPs, Downing Street has said.
- Scots are choosing to reject the “lies and division” of populists in favour of backing independence, John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister, has told the SNP conference. He said people across the country were “holding fast to the values of truth, integrity and honesty”. Delivering a rebuke to Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, Swinney said the campaign for independence would walk a road of tolerance and persuasion in winning over ‘no’ voters. He went on:
While we deride their behaviour, we must learn the lessons of the victories of Trump and Johnson.
They chose - and still choose - the gutter and it will be their downfall. Winning on their terms is never worth it.
Their road does not lead to a better nation. Their road leads to ruin and we will never walk that road.
Instead, we will walk the road of tolerance, persuasion, debate and dialogue.
We will set ourselves the goal of living every day as though we are in the first days of a new nation.
We do so for two simple reasons - first, because it is the right thing to do, and second, because it will make our country anew.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
This is what a Downing Street source said when asked about why what the Queen said about the possibility of the UK leaving the EU on 31 October was less definitive than what Boris Johnson has been saying on this. (See 12.57pm.) The source rejected suggestions that the palace rejected No 10’s proposed wording, and went on:
I appreciate there are differences in language but those differences in language are more reflective of the fact that’s how a Queen’s speech goes rather than any suggestion that there are any differences in policy. The prime minister was very clear that we are leaving on 31 October.
Updated
Jon Worth from the College of Europe has been trying to work out how Boris Johnson could get the votes to pass a Brexit deal. He has posted a Twitter thread (what else?) starting here.
We know from today's debate in House of Commons that Lee Rowley - who voted against May's Deal 3 times - will now back whatever Johnson brings back (if, of course, there is anything!)https://t.co/9h6ioWMMUi
— Jon Worth (@jonworth) October 14, 2019
Where does that leave us on chances of any Deal passing the Commons?
And here is his conclusion.
So - to conclude - to get a Deal through, Johnson needs:
— Jon Worth (@jonworth) October 14, 2019
- ALL the Tories (inc. ALL the ERG)
- The vast majority of the Tories that lost the whip
- And about 10 Labour MPs
(the latter could be replaced by the DUP)
This is - to put it lightly - a major ask
From my colleague Heather Stewart
When I first arrived in Oxford as politics-mad undergraduate, I beetled along to the famous Union, found it full of plummy-voiced windbags who thought it was all a great game - and never went back.
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) October 14, 2019
Can’t think what suddenly brought that memory flooding back 🤷♀️
Earlier I wrote a post saying that, if the government lost the vote on the Queen’s speech next week, the defeat would have no practical effect. But David Howarth, a Cambridge law professor and former Lib Dem MP, has been in touch to say that it is not as simple as that, and that defeat would tie Boris Johnson’s hands in at least one respect. See 10.36am for the update. You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.
Opening of Queen's speech debate - Summary
As I said earlier, the opening of the Queen’s speech debate wasn’t exactly a cornucopia of news stories, but here are the better lines, as far as they went.
- Boris Johnson received a boost when one of the most hardline Tory Brexiters signalled that he would back his revised plan for an alternative to the Irish backstop. (See 4.44pm.)
- Johnson said the government would protect military veterans from “unfair prosecution”. Asked why the Queen’s speech did not include a bill implementing this pledge, Johnson said legislation would be introduced in due course. He said:
This government understands that no-one can escape justice for a crime that they have committed. But we also understand that there should be no unfair prosecution when no new evidence has been produced.
- Jeremy Corbyn dismissed the Queen’s speech as a “farce”. He explained:
There has never been such a farce as a Government with a majority of -45 and a 100% record of defeat in the House of Commons setting out a legislative agenda they know cannot be delivered in this parliament.
- Johnson said the government would legislate to enshrine the rights of EU nationals in law. Asked by the Tory MP Alberto Costa if he would “unequivocally enshrine in primary legislation the rights of my mother and father, and three million other EU nationals”, Johnson replied:
Yes, not only can I give him that absolutely and unequivocal guarantee but I’m delighted to say two million EU nationals in this country have already registered under the EU registration system.
- Corbyn accused the government of a “blatant attempt ... to rig the result” of the next election” through its plans for compulsory photographic ID at polling stations. He said:
We will not allow this government to stifle democracy by making it harder for people to vote – there was only one instance of voter personation at the last election.
Eleven million in this country don’t have a passport or driving licence. There are huge risks in such legislation, which will disproportionately affect working class, ethnic minority and young voters.
Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, has also spoken out on this.
Photo ID to vote without any evidence of a problem such an obvious US voter suppression move...plus in small print of briefing document making people re-apply for postal votes every three years....more bureaucracy to disenfranchise more people, particularly older voters.
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) October 14, 2019
- Corbyn accused the government of creating a “lost generation”. He said:
We have, almost, a lost generation. Children going to school in under-staffed schools, very few teaching assistants, headteachers going out with a begging bowl to parents to try to match the school budget. And too many young people growing up in incredible levels of stress, of bad housing and of stress and worry about the future. That contributes to the mental health crisis that this country, as a whole, must address.
- Johnson refused to confirm that the government remains committed to the HS2 B line to Leeds. Asked about its future by Anna Soubry, the former Tory who now leads the Independent Group for Change, Johnson said that HS2 was being reviewed and that there would be more on this in the budget on 6 November.
- Johnson compared a shake-up in Corbyn’s office to “Soviet-era expulsions”. Referring to Corbyn, Johnson said:
Frankly I fear for his political health. We can see the Soviet-era expulsions that are taking place in his circle. As one by one, his lieutenants are purged as Lenin purged the associates of poor-old Trotsky.
Pointing to the shadow chancellor John McDonnell, Johnson went on:
And there is Lenin, the veteran fabricator of GLC budgets, as the shadow chancellor tightens his icy-grip on the Labour party.
My colleague Owen Jones thinks Johnson’s history is awry.
Historically, this doesn’t work because Lenin and Trotsky had a very turbulent - often bitterly acrimonious - relationship before the October Revolution. After that they acted as a united duo until Lenin’s 1924 death, with Trotsky leading the Red Army in the Russian Civil War 🤷♂️ https://t.co/eE6IkDQBO7
— Owen Jones🌹 (@OwenJones84) October 14, 2019
Updated
Boost for Boris Johnson as hardline Brexit rebel signals he now wants to back PM's deal
Boris Johnson received a boost when one of the most hardline Tory Brexiters signalled that he would back his revised plan for an alternative to the Irish backstop. Lee Rowley, one of the 28 so-called Brexiter “Spartans” who voted against Theresa May’s Brexit deal three times, opened the Queen’s speech debate, in his role as the proposer of the loyal address. It is the first time the Commons has sat since it emerged on Thursday that a compromise customs plan could be the basis for a UK-EU Brexit deal. Rowley signalled that he was now minded to back what the government was planning. In his speech he said:
In the last few days there is at least hope that this toxic and crippling fog, which we have created, might just be lifting as the prime minister sketches the outline of a way forward – and I speak as someone who has been robust in my review of previous proposals – but the house must surely see, as I do, that we have debated long enough.
This is a moment for decision and we were elected to make decisions.
If there is light at the end of the tunnel later this week, and heaven knows I hope there will be, we have a fundamental responsibility in this place to try and resolve this most vexed of problems and allow our despairing country to move on.
For the health of our democracy and to restore faith in this most venerable of institutions, in my view we simply must get Brexit done.
Updated
The House of Commons library has become the latest Brexit-monitoring body to try its hand at a ‘What happens next?’ flowchart. It’s from this briefing note.
Updated
Opening of Queen's speech debate - Snap verdict (not)
Normally at this point in the proceedings I would post some sort of verdict. But there is no point.
Partly that’s because that was almost a news-free occasion. Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson both gave serviceable speeches, but neither of them said anything much that they have not said before. (There were a few very minor lines, that I will post in a moment.)
But mainly it’s because ITV’s Robert Peston has summed up the problem with the debate so well it is hard to improve on it.
This the maddest, most pointless Queen's Speech debate anyone alive has watched - because it is all displacement activity from the only two questions that matter, namely whether the UK is leaving the EU on 31 October (and if so how) and whether there will be a general...
— Robert Peston (@Peston) October 14, 2019
election before Christmas. As a result it has all the significance and weight of an undergraduate debate on a wet autumn afternoon
— Robert Peston (@Peston) October 14, 2019
Johnson ends saying he believes in a “generous, tolerant, outward-looking and humane society”.
And that’s it.
Johnson says he wants a Britain where “fairness and balance” are at the heart of what we do.
He says the government should be fighting crime. But he says he agrees with Jeremy Corbyn on the importance of rehabilitation.
Johnson says, after Brexit, the UK will be able to ban the export of live animals.
That is something the public will welcome, he says.
Ken Clarke, the veteran Tory (now independent) MP and leader of the Commons, asks Johnson for an assurance that the HS2 review will consider the impact of cancelling the plan on the East Midlands, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
Johnson says he can give that assurance.
Updated
Anna Soubry, the Independent Group for Change MP, says there was no mention of HS2 in the budget.
Johnson says the government is committed to infrastructure spending. On HS2, he says there will be more on this in the budget.
Johnson says it is time to get Brexit done.
He says Brexit will allow the UK to get life-saving medicines to market more quickly and more cheaply.
(This is not normally a point Johnson makes when itemising the supposed benefits of Brexit. Is it motivated by the need to match Labour’s plan to reduce the cost of medicines?)
Johnson says the destruction that Labour would do to business is the biggest threat this country faces – far bigger than the threat posed by a no-deal Brexit.
Updated
Johnson says the government wants the economy to flourish because so many solutions to our problems are provided by the free market and capitalism.
That is how the UK will become carbon neutral by 2050, he says.
He says this is understood even by his “crusty” relatives like his father, Stanley, who backed the Extinction Rebellion protests.
Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, asks about the impact of Johnson’s Brexit deal on manufacturing.
Johnson says that is why the Lib Dems should vote for a deal.
And he accuses Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, of going to Brussels for a meeting with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, and asking him to rule out any deal.
Updated
Johnson says Labour’s plan to scrap Ofsted is “insane”.
He says that one nation Conservatives like himself support Ofsted because they believe in standards.
Back in the debate Labour’s Maria Eagle says Merseyside has lost 1,120 police officers. Why is it only being allowed to recruit 200 more.
Johnson says this is just the first wave of recruitment.
UPDATE: I’ve corrected this because it was Maria Eagle who asked the question, not her identical twin sister Angela, as I originally wrote.
Updated
From the Independent’s John Rentoul
Good speech by PM, but no response to John McDonnell heckling, “5m children in poverty” and other Lab MPs, “food banks”
— John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) October 14, 2019
Johnson says he wants to level up investment across the nation.
He claims decisions now will lead to 40 new hospitals.
(Actually, as this Full Fact briefing explains, six would be a more accurate figure.)
Turning back to the issue of the prosecution of military veterans, Johnson says the government will legislate to ensure there is no unfair prosecution when no new evidence has been produced.
The DUP’s Sammy Wilson asks Johnson to assure him that he will not let the Northern Ireland Office include the IRA in any provisions.
Johnson repeats the point he made originally.
Johnson says Corbyn recently said he was daunted by the idea of becoming PM. Many other people feel the same way, he says. He says he personally will do all he can to stop this.
He says his government will champion the free market. He says the mention of a free market has made John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, flinch “like a Transylvanian in the sunlight”.
Bob Stewart, a Conservative, asks Johnson why there was no legislation in the speech to protect former members of the armed forces from being prosecuted over historical events.
Johnson says the government is still consulting on this matter. It will bring forward legislation when it is ready, he says.
Updated
And this is from the BBC’s Ian Watson.
'One by one @jeremycorbyn 's lieutenants are being purged' as @johnmcdonnell 'tightens his icy grip' says @BorisJohnson (Of course 21 of his anti no deal MPs may have considered themsleves purged too...) pic.twitter.com/3HZVuMYIGj
— iain watson (@iainjwatson) October 14, 2019
From the Independent’s Rob Merrick
Jeez!! Boris Johnson taunting Jeremy Corbyn over his Brexit contortions (fair enough)….
— Rob Merrick (@Rob_Merrick) October 14, 2019
…but this is the PM who has just carried out the mother of all U-turns, backing a version of May's plan he once branded “crazy” !
Johnson turns to Jeremy Corbyn, and he accuses Corbyn of changing his mind on an early election.
He says Corbyn’s policy on cake is neither having it nor eating it.
And he jokes about the changes to Corbyn’s inner circle. (See 9.58am.) John McDonnell is tightening his icy grip on the party, he says.
Boris Johnson is speaking now.
He starts with tributes to the MPs Lee Rowley and Sarah Newton.
Rowley’s aunt was secretary to Arthur Scargill, Johnson says. He also says Rowley collects airline memorabilia (which might not be something Rowley wanted everyone to know).
Updated
Corbyn says there was no action on the climate in the speech.
There is some truth in this. The speech includes an environment bill. This will codify carbon emission targets, but in his comment on this bill in his introduction to the Queen’s speech briefing pack (pdf), Boris Johnson focused on what the bill would do for animal welfare (a priority for his partner Carrie Symonds, who campaigns on this topic). Johnson said:
The huge star of our legislative programme is a momentous new environment bill – a lodestar by which we will guide our country towards a cleaner and greener future.
This legislation takes forward the work of my predecessor, and will set a framework of legally binding targets to reduce plastics, restore biodiversity and clean up our water and air. And demonstrating that the British really are a nation of animal lovers we will take steps to strengthen animal welfare.
Updated
Corbyn says Boris Johnson needs to assure EU nationals living in this country that their right to stay in the UK will be guaranteed.
Corbyn turns to the government’s plans to require people to show photo ID when they vote.
We will not allow this government to stifle democracy by making it harder for people to vote – there was only one instance of voter personation at the last election.
Eleven million in this country don’t have a passport or driving licence. There are huge risks in such legislation, which will disproportionately affect working class, ethnic minority and young voters.
Labour’s Angela Eagle asks Corbyn if this is an attempt to suppress voter turnout amongst certain groups (groups likely to vote for Labour). Corbyn agrees.
Updated
Corbyn says the speech does nothing for bus services.
He says most tower blocks with Grenfell-style cladding have not had it removed.
On crime, Corbyn says:
The dog-whistle rhetoric around foreign offenders is a rather ugly mask for the fact that by crashing out of the EU this government risks losing some of the most effective measures in tackling cross-border crime: the European arrest warrant, participation in Eurojust and access to numerous databases.
And he expresses scepticism about the plans for railways.
We will study the detail closely of the government’s proposals on rail reform but it is no good simply changing the way in which train operating companies carry on extracting profit from our fragmented railway system.
Only a Labour government will cap fares and ensure the railway is run for passengers not for profit.
Updated
Corbyn says the government should repeal the Health and Social Care Act and end privatisation in the NHS.
He says the government should match Labour’s pledge to have safe staffing levels in hospitals.
He says the speech was shockingly weak on school funding. The extra money for schools will not compensate for what has been lost since 2010, he says.
Updated
Corbyn welcomes the proposal in the Queen’s speech to ensure employers pass on tips. Unions have been calling for this for ages, he says.
But he says the government should go further and implement the proposals outlined by Laura Pidcock, the shadow business minister, in her speech to the TUC last month.
(It has been reported that Pidcock is now the candidate favoured by Corbynites for next Labour leader. This afternoon’s name check will do nothing to dispel that theory.)
Updated
Corbyn says the country has almost got a lost generation.
He challenges the PM to match Labour’s proposals on welfare.
So will the prime minister match Labour’s commitments to scrap the benefit freeze, end the benefit cap, ditch the bedroom tax, scrap the two-child limit and the rape clause, and end punitive sanctions?
Updated
Corbyn turns to poverty.
There was nothing in this Queen’s speech to address our stagnant economy. Nothing to address low pay and insecure work. Nothing to reverse rising levels of child poverty or pensioner poverty.
Corbyn has not even got to the end of his speech, but Labour has already put it out on Twitter.
.@jeremycorbyn responding to the Queen’s Speech:https://t.co/toLxf4wWzW
— Labour Press Team (@labourpress) October 14, 2019
Corbyn says we could be only weeks away from a Labour Queen’s speech.
Patrick McLoughlin, the former Tory chairman, says if Labour had voted for an election in September, the Queen could have been reading out a Labour one. Why did Corbyn not back an election?
Because we don’t trust the prime minster, says Corbyn.
Updated
Corbyn dismisses Queen's speech as 'farce'
Corbyn is now on to the substance of his speech.
He says there has never been such a “farce” as a government with a majority of minus 45, and a 100% record of being defeated in the Commons, setting out a programme for government.
Updated
Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now.
He starts by paying tribute to Paul Flynn, the Labour MP who died earlier this year.
He says Lee Rowley and Sarah Newton both started in local government. He pays tribute to councillors, and says they should be seen as an important part of our democracy.
As is traditional on these occasions, he praises the two MPs who proposed and seconded the loyal address. He jokes about Rowley being a surprise choice for the role because Rowley has not always got on with Boris Johnson, he claims. He says when Johnson was mayor of London, Rowley was a councillor, and proposed a nightlife tax. Johnson was furious, Corbyn says. He says the plan only covered parking, but he suggests Johnson saw it as an incursion on his own nightlife activities.
Updated
Newton is now addressing Europe.
It has been tough going, she says.
This week MPs must redouble their efforts, compromise and find a consensus on the way forward.
She jokes about various songs MPs could sing to bring them together over Brexit, ending with the Beatles’ We Can Work it Out.
As she sits down she gets a pat on the back from Theresa May, who is sitting beside her.
Updated
Sarah Newton, the MP for Truro and Falmouth, a former disabilities minister, is seconding the loyal address.
She is on a different wing of the Conservative party on Brexit. She resigned as a minister earlier this year so that she could vote to rule out a no-deal Brexit.
She starts by saying she was a bit worried to get this slot. She hopes the best days of her career are not over, she says.
Updated
Rowley recalls a visit to parliament when he was at school, when he was shown around by the late Tony Benn. He recalls Benn running through his five questions that should be asked of anyone in power.
Hardline Tory Brexiter Lee Rowley suggests he would vote for Johnson’s Brexit deal
After a jokey introduction, Lee Rowley gets into the meat of his speech. He says the country is divided. He says he has been “robust” in his criticism of previous Brexit deals. But now is the time to take a decision, he says.
He says he hopes that there will be light at the end of the tunnel this week.
In my view, we simply must get Brexit done.
He says it is time for MPs to get back to the country’s other priorities.
- Hardline Tory Brexiter Lee Rowley suggests he would vote for Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, saying “we simply must get Brexit done”.
Before the prime minister and the leader of the opposition speak, two backbenchers propose and second the loyal address (the thank you note to the Queen - see 10.36am)
By tradition, one of them is a young, up-and-coming MP, and the other is a veteran.
Lee Rowley, MP for North East Derbyshire, is proposing the loyal address. He was only elected in 2017, and he is 39.
Rowley is one of the 28 “Spartans” - hardline Tory Brexiters who voted against Theresa May’s deal three times. You can see why No 10 might be keen to humour him at the moment ...
In the Commons the sitting has resumed.
As is normal at the start of a new parliamentary session, John Bercow, the Speaker, reads out a statement reminding MPs of their duties under the code of conduct and asserting the rights of the Commons.
Here is an extract from the version he read out at the start of the session in 2017.
I begin by reminding members of our duty to observe the code of conduct agreed by the House, and to behave with civility and fairness in all their dealings. In our proceedings, every member should be heard courteously, whatever their views. The house asserts its privilege of freedom of speech so that we can represent our constituents without fear or favour. We must exercise that privilege responsibly. It applies only to our work in this House; as private individuals we are equal under the law with those whom we represent.
Here is some reaction to the Queen’s speech from opposition parties.
From Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary
Labour always argued that cuts have consequences. It was the Tories (and LibDems) who cut the police, but in the #QueensSpeech the Tories want to pretend the consequences have nothing to do with them. pic.twitter.com/Eu3NasjKE1
— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) October 14, 2019
From Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary
May l suggest what should have been included in the #QueensSpeech👇#Education
— Angela Rayner 🌈 (@AngelaRayner) October 14, 2019
✅Free nursery places for all 2-4 year olds
✅Properly funded primary&secondary schools
✅Ending key stage 1 and 2 testing
✅Replacing Ofsted with a more supportive system
✅Ending of university fees.
From Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster
Boris Johnson’s toxic Tory agenda would be devastating for Scotland - ripping us out of the EU, single market and customs union against our will, destroying jobs, and inflicting lasting harm on living standards, public services and the economy.
The Tory leader’s time is up. The SNP will do everything we can over the coming days to bring this failed Tory government to an end - and prevent it imposing its tired, damaging policies, including by opposing this hijacked Queen’s Speech if it ever comes to a vote.
From the Liberal Democrats
The Tory party manifesto that is today's #QueensSpeech is nothing more than an election gimmick driven by Boris Johnson.
— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) October 14, 2019
The best way to protect our jobs and public services is to #StopBrexit
Join the movement to stop Brexit now https://t.co/Mp2XkNJx4v
From Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Wesminster
Fundamentally calling for an election whilst at the same time outlining a year-long – or perhaps multi-year – programme of legislation is completely non-sensical.
From the Green MP Caroline Lucas
PM's intro to #QueenSpeech document shows real priorities
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) October 14, 2019
Not a single mention of climate
Para 11 before nature gets a mention
And nothing tangible in entire 130 pages to address fact that Govt is off track to meet even current weak carbon targets https://t.co/aQyw4nCk2L
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
Sitting hours of Parliament planned for Saturday are 9.30 til 2.30
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 14, 2019
The Evening Standard’s Nicholas Cecil has another clue (possibly) as to whether or not the DUP might support the Brexit backstop alternative being considered by the UK and the EU.
DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson, asked about Jacob Rees-Mogg hinting he may “eat his own words” and back a fudge customs plan, tells @standardnews: “Whatever appetite he has for his own words...we will not be eating our own words."https://t.co/rsIfC8O7CT
— nicholas cecil (@nicholascecil) October 14, 2019
And here is an extract from Cecil’s story.
DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson, when asked about Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg saying is willing to “eat his own words” and back a customs plan he once branded “completely cretinous”, responded: “Whatever appetite he has for his own words or whatever, we will not be eating our own words. Our position is clear, the government knows what our position is and we will not be dining from a different menu.”
Power of No 10 advisers like Dominic Cummings should be reined in, says former cabinet secretary
The former head of the civil service, Andrew Turnbull, has launched an attack on unelected Downing Street special advisers such as Dominic Cummings, warning that damage is being inflicted on the functioning of government.
In a thinly veiled attack on Boris Johnson’s top adviser, the former cabinet secretary to Tony Blair said the rising concentration of power at No 10 needed to be reversed urgently if the country wanted better political decisions to be made. Speaking at the National Institute of Economic and Social Research in London, he said:
What has happened is an accretion of power around the prime minister and the special adviser group around the prime minister, and it works to the detriment of Whitehall and of departments as a whole.
Saying that both Jeremy Hunt and Sajid Javid had been circumvented by Theresa May and Boris Johnson in turn, he said the marginalisation of ministers had damaged the country at large.
We‘ve got to go back to a view that the prime minister’s senior adviser on any policy issue is his secretary of state. The prime minister must not get to thinking that all announcements have to come out of No 10.
When they [special advisers] start to suppress and supplant the advice of the civil service, then they are beginning to do damage. And I think reversing this accretion of power that’s happened over the past 20 years - pretty dramatic under Mrs May, is even more dramatic under the present prime minister - that is essential to get back to much better quality of policymaking.
Also speaking at the event as the focus in Westminster shifted to the Queen’s speech, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, Britain’s former ambassador to the UN, warned that the UK’s position on the world stage had been damaged by Brexit. Urging the government to redouble its efforts and to raise military spending to offset the hit to Britain’s status, he said:
We’ve fallen back in international esteem and we’ve lost an awful lot of ground.
The UK and the EU have to work very closely together to be relevant globally. The US-UK relationship will not be secondary to that, but it will not substitute that. Any government leadership post Brexit has got to be very clear on that point.
He said government spending on defence as a proportion of the economy should rise from 2% at present to 2.2%, adding: “We must bring something to the table or people will not be talking to us as we have taken ourselves out.”
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon has said she tries to avoid “stressing and worrying” about the potential impact of the Alex Salmond trial on her life, telling an interviewer “what will be will be”.
Salmond, her predecessor as first minister and mentor, is expected to stand trial early next year for alleged sex offences, which he has repeatedly denied. He was charged in January with 14 offences including two of attempted rape, with senior Scottish National party figures expected to be called to give evidence.
In an interview with Holyrood magazine to mark Scottish National party conference, Sturgeon said she was focusing on her work as first minister and party leader. She said:
In terms of any trial, I don’t spend much time thinking about it. I’m not in control of it; I’m not controlling the timing of it.
I’m not in control of the outcome, I’m not in control of any aspect of it and I guess the longer anybody is in politics and in positions of leadership, one of the things you learn is not to spend too much time stressing about the things you’re not in control of because there’s plenty of things you are in control of to focus on.
So I won’t spend a lot of time stressing or worrying about it. What will be will be and around that I would say that I can’t, and I won’t go, into any detail or substance on it because I am not going to prejudice a process that should be respected. And I would simply caution others to take the same view and you know, not listen too much to the kind of gossip that swirls around in that kind of vacuum.
Sturgeon, her senior aides and the head of the Scottish civil service, Leslie Evans, are also the focus of a Scottish parliament investigation into the devolved government’s botched internal inquiry into allegations of inappropriate conduct by Salmond involving two female employees.
Salmond denied those claims and won a civil action against Evans last August, when the Scottish government admitted it has mishandled that inquiry. The senior officer Evans appointed to run it had had contact with both women before they had formally lodged complaints.
It then emerged Sturgeon had contact with Salmond five times last year, after the inquiry was launched, including three face to face meetings where he is thought to have lobbied her about the civil service inquiry.
Updated
The BBC’s Faisal Islam reckons there is only one reference to a no-deal Brexit in the 130-page Queen’s speech briefing pack.
No direct reference to No Deal Brexit, only to leaving with a deal in the text of the Queen’s speech, the PM’s written introduction, and the Exec Summary... 🤔 pic.twitter.com/QvkJO9H8bB
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) October 14, 2019
one indirect reference to leaving without a deal I can see in the 130 pages of explanatory notes - a note on “Key facts” for the Immigration Bill below...https://t.co/PFqXvLXG46 pic.twitter.com/JqzVaVwlXs
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) October 14, 2019
Scotland’s environment and climate change secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, has launched a vigorous attack on the Scottish Green party, claiming the Greens could not be trusted after their MSPs “sat on their hands” during a recent vote on climate policy.
The pro-independence Scottish Green party are the Scottish National party’s erstwhile allies in the independence movement; its six MSPs have given Nicola Sturgeon’s minority government a narrow majority at Holyrood in key votes on the constitution.
Many observers believe the Scottish Greens’ head count at Holyrood after the next Scottish parliamentary election in May 2021 could be crucial in ensuring pro-independence parties have a majority – assuming Sturgeon fails to hold a fresh referendum next year as she hopes.
But in a combative speech at SNP conference in Aberdeen, Cunningham urged SNP members and pro-independence voters not to “lend their votes” to the Scottish Greens at a Holyrood election, accusing them of siding with Labour and the Tories.
Sturgeon’s new climate strategy, to reach net zero by 2045, scraped through Holyrood last week after her government accepted a Labour amendment, which the Scottish Greens voted against because it was not ambitious enough. Cunningham told delegates:
The people of Scotland know who they can trust to provide leadership. They can’t trust Labour. And they certainly can’t trust the Tories. Both parties will the ends, but never the means.
Last week they had their chance to step up to the plate and they failed. And people can’t trust the Greens either. At this crucial moment in Scotland’s climate change journey, when it came time to pass those targets into law, they sat on their hands.
So conference, let me offer this advice to you, and to every member of the SNP. Lend your vote to the Greens? So they can sit on their hands in the face of world leading ambition? I don’t think so!
The enmity on this seems to be mutual. With the Scottish Greens holding their annual conference in Inverness at the weekend, the party accused the SNP on Sunday of “world class hypocrisy” after the former SNP climate minister Stewart Stevenson told an SNP fringe event sponsored by BP there would be decades more oil extraction.
Updated
Here is a Guardian video of the Dennis Skinner heckle.
By his standards, it was rather low-key.
In an article for BuzzFeed Alex Wickham and Alberto Nardelli suggest No 10 is mulling over whether it could accept a Brexit extension to bolt down the details of the new backstop plan being considered by the UK and the EU – justifying this on the grounds that in spirit Brexit would have been delivered by the end of October. They write:
One option under consideration in Number 10 is that, if the EU accepted in principle Johnson’s customs partnership for the Northern Ireland proposal without a backstop, but said it needed more time to iron out the details, Johnson could agree to a three-month technical extension to Article 50.
Some senior Tories believe that Johnson could present this outcome to the public as the prime minister successfully “getting Brexit done” by October 31, with a deal agreed in principle and the backstop removed. A technical extension would be used to negotiate the final details and the UK would formally leave at a later date.
The downside to this would be that the UK will not have legally left the EU on October 31, contrary to the public position of Johnson and Cummings.
In this scenario, a general election could be delayed until 2020, also contrary to Johnson and Cummings’ original plan. There are rising fears among senior ministers that the Conservatives would be squeezed by Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party in a pre-Brexit election.
At the No 10 lobby briefing the PM’s spokesman played down this suggestion (see 11.27am) and said Johnson was clear that the UK would be leaving the EU on 31 October.
The government’s Queen’s speech briefing pack (pdf), in the section on the EU (withdrawal agreement) bill, says one of the main benefits of the bill would be ensuring the UK leaves the EU with a deal on 31 October.
But it is worth noting that the Queen herself, in her speech, did not commit to hitting the 31 October deadline. She just said:
My government’s priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 October.
The Queen’s speech is drafted by the government, but the palace is consulted and presumably the Queen’s aides would have been unhappy about her stating as fact that the UK would be leaving on 31 October when at the moment that is only an aspiration. She is more scrupulous about sticking to what’s true than her prime minister.
Updated
Johnson claims he is going to 'get gears on our national gearbox working again'
Here is an extract from Boris Johnson’s statement about the Queen’s speech in his introduction to the Queen’s speech briefing pack (pdf). As befits a former motoring correspondent of GQ, he uses a driving metaphor – promising to “get the gears on our national gearbox working again”.
This Queen’s speech delivers on my promise as prime minister to get this amazing country of ours moving again. People are tired of stasis, gridlock and waiting for change. They don’t want to wait for improvements in their hospitals. They don’t want to wait for their streets to be made safer. They don’t want to wait for their schools to have the funding they need to give their children the superb education they deserve.
And they don’t want to wait any longer to get Brexit done and to answer that clarion call of 17.4m people in the greatest exercise of democracy in our national history.
So we are going to get the gears on our national gearbox working again. Leaving the EU is a defining opportunity for us to set a new course and a new direction for our country – to do the things we have not been allowed to for decades, to tear away that bureaucratic red tape, to set our own rules, and to release the talent, creativity, innovation and chutzpah that exists in every corner of our United Kingdom.
It is striking how, despite being one of the architects of the vote to leave the EU, Johnson is now desperate to move beyond the “gridlock” that the referendum result engendered.
In his statement, Johnson also revives a line that he used during his speech to the Tory conference. He says:
If there is one great British institution that has the emotional force to bring our country together, it is our NHS. It is sacred in our nation precisely because at its heart is the simple beauty of the principle that whoever you are, no matter where you come from, if you fall sick the whole country gathers figuratively at your bedside.
(You can see why Johnson is taken by the metaphor, but I’m not sure it works. Personally, if I were in hospital, the last thing I would want would be the whole nation by my bedside.)
Updated
I missed this moment earlier ...
— Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) October 14, 2019
Government publishes 130-page briefing pack on Queen's speech bills
The government has now published its 130-page Queen’s speech briefing pack (pdf).
This includes a statement by the prime minister, the full text of the Queen’s speech (always the most boring speech delivered by anyone during the political calendar – it is basically just a list), and briefing notes on all the government bills being planned.
Updated
Here is my colleague Peter Walker’s story about the Queen’s speech.
And this is how it starts.
The government has announced a proposed legislative programme dominated by post-Brexit bills and a renewed focus on law and order in an unusual Queen’s speech, one mainly used by Boris Johnson as a preview of the Conservatives’ election manifesto.
The summary of planned new laws read out by the Queen to mark the new session of parliament contained 26 new or returning bills, more than a third of which relate to new arrangements following departure from the EU.
Other key elements of a speech widely trailed in advance included plans for tougher jail sentences and controversial proposals to oblige people to show photographic ID before they are allowed to vote.
Back to Brexit, and at the European commission’s daily briefing the commission’s spokeswoman, Mina Andreeva, got sidetracked into musing about lighting effects when responding to a question about progress in the Brexit talks. Asked about “light at the end of the tunnel” and whether the light was “static” or “approaching”, she replied:
I’m really not a technician in light bulbs or light effects. Maybe it could be a flashing light, because sometimes it’s stronger, sometimes it’s less strong. So let’s see what kind of light we will see at the end. Hopefully there will be light indeed.
Updated
From Jack McConnell, a Labour peer
Behind the scenes, the carriages ‘park up’ #QueensSpeech pic.twitter.com/uPVS4Nu6Fy
— Jack McConnell (@LordMcConnell) October 14, 2019
She says the union is of the utmost importance to the government.
Steps will be taken to protect the integrity of democracy, she says.
The government will maintain defence spending at 2% of GDP.
And the UK will continue to play a leading role in global affairs, she says.
She tells MPs that estimates (measures that decide how government money is spent) will be presented to them.
And “other measures” will be introduced during the session, she says.
And that’s it.
The Queen says the government is committed to the environment. There will be measures to improve air and water quality, and to promote the welfare of animals. Trophy hunting will be banned.
The Queen says the government wants everyone to have access to an excellent education.
There will be measures to help those working hard.
A national infrastructure strategy will bring the benefits of a prospering economy to every corner of the kingdom, she says.
Legislation will ensure the delivery of fast, reliable broadband to millions of homes.
There will be an aviation bill, and proposals on railway reform.
She says the government’s new economic plan will be underpinned by a new fiscal strategy.
There will be measures to strengthen the NHS, she says. There will also be plans to reform adult social care.
She says the government is committed to addressing violent crime. New sentencing laws will be introduced, she says. And measures will improve the handling of foreign national offenders.
There will be measures to improve prison safety and to help victims.
Public sector bodies will be under a duty to address serious violence.
There will also be laws to help the victims of domestic abuse and to minimise the impact of divorce.
Updated
The Queen starts by saying the government’s priority “has always been to secure the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 October”.
She says the government wants a new partnership with the EU, based on free trade.
There will be new regimes for fisheries and agriculture.
An immigration bill, ending free movement, will be introduced.
And steps will be taken to deliver stability in financial services, she says.
Queen's speech
Robert Buckland, the lord chancellor, gives the Queen the text of the speech to read out.
The Mirror’s Kevin Maguire heard what Dennis Skinner said.
BOOM! "I'm not going" - Dennis Skinner's briefest if most direct heckle after Black Rod announced the Queen was summoning MPs to the House of Lords
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) October 14, 2019
Black Rod is entering the Commons.
She tells the Speaker the Queen has commanded MPs to attend her in the House of Lords.
Dennis Skinner, the Labour MP famous for heckling Black Rod at this point in the ceremony, expresses some sort of dissent, but from the TV coverage it is hard to hear what he said.
Downing Street has expressed scepticism at the idea the UK could part-exit the EU on 31 October – agreeing a deal to satisfy political demand while allowing a “technical extension” for details to be finalised.
Asked about the idea, which would allow Boris Johnson to reach an interim agreement at the European council summit this week while giving more time for parliament and the EU to approve it, Johnson’s spokesman said: “It’s news to me that something like that is even possible.”
Asked if Downing Street would thus not agree such a plan even if it was mooted, the spokesman said:
The prime minister has been clear on many occasions that we are going to leave on 31 October.
There was also little news on negotiations to even reach a deal at the summit in Brussels this Wednesday and Thursday. “Talks remain constructive but there is a lot of work still to do,” Johnson’s spokesman said.
The prime minister currently has no calls with EU leaders scheduled, despite reports he was due to talk to people including Angela Merkel.
If a deal was reached, he said, MPs would be expected to “work around the clock” to get it through parliament in time. However, as yet it is not confirmed whether the Commons will definitely sit on Saturday, as mooted, to either agree a deal or decide on a possible extension, as dictated under the so-called Benn act.
A motion to sit on Saturday would need to be tabled on Wednesday for a vote of MPs on Thursday, the spokesman said.
Updated
The Queen is now on the throne in the Lords.
But MPs are still in the Commons. They now need to be summoned by Black Rod.
Back to Brexit, and measures to manage traffic on Kent’s motorways in preparation for a possible no-deal Brexit will be implemented on 28 October, the Department for Transport has announced. The transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris said travellers also needed to “do their bit”. He said:
We want residents in Kent and hauliers travelling from across the EU to be reassured that there are robust plans in place to deal with any disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
We now need everyone to do their bit. Whether you are travelling to see family, heading to work or transporting vital goods around the country, please check before you travel to ensure you know what to expect and have the right documents when heading to the border.
Updated
Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images
No 10 says Brexit talks with EU have 'still a long way to go'
These are from the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar, who has been at the Downing Street lobby briefing.
No 10 not sounding hugely upbeat about prospect of new Brexit legal text being ready to put in front of EU leaders on Thursday.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) October 14, 2019
PM’s official spokesman says: “The talks are constructive but there is still a long way to go”.
PM’s spokesman also rules out extending Brexit by a couple of weeks if a deal looks in sight - even if just for a technical extension.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) October 14, 2019
“I’m generally not aware such a thing even exists. The PM is clear that we leave on October 31st”.
In the Commons John Bercow, the Speaker, is taking his seat ahead of the state opening ceremony.
Queen arrives at parliament for Queen's speech
The Queen has arrived at parliament for the Queen’s speech.
This morning Sajid Javid, the chancellor, announced that he plans to hold a budget on 6 November, less than a week after the date of the UK’s supposed exit from the EU. But the small print of the government’s announcement makes it clear that, if there were a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, the budget would be delayed. It says:
The government is committed to securing a deal and leaving on 31 October. In the event of no deal, the government would act quickly to outline our approach and take early action to support the economy, businesses and households. This would be followed by a budget in the weeks thereafter.
On the Today programme Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said this was an example of the government “making things up as they go along”.
I have to say, I think it’s another example of this government making things up as they go along. I’m not sure they will still be in office on November 6. It doesn’t appear to be at all certain we will leave the EU on October 31. It’s still a big risk of leaving with no deal, but I certainly hope that we will manage to see an extension secured to the article 50 process.
The Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges thinks this is an implicit acknowledgement that there will be a Brexit extension.
About this 6th November budget. Boris still saying we'll have left by 31st. At which point we're supposed to be having an election, aren't we? Once we leave, no incentive for other parties to block one. So isn't this a clear admission Boris knows we won't have left by the 31st.
— (((Dan Hodges))) (@DPJHodges) October 14, 2019
From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh
Fascinating vignette in Lords gallery awaiting QSpeech. PM's partner Carrie Symonds chatting animatedly to Stanley Johnson (last seen, still not caught on @Channel4 #CelebrityHunted.)
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) October 14, 2019
Updated
Boris Johnson’s hopes of getting a new Brexit deal through parliament depend to a large extend on the 10 Democratic Unionist party MPs. That is not necessarily because those votes are essential – if Johnson could win over a significant number of Labour MPs, he could make up for those lost 10 votes – so much as the fact the DUP support would help to unlock a chunk of hardline Tory Brexiter support. There were 28 Tory Brexiters who voted against Theresa May’s deal three times, partly because of its impact on the union, but they would find it hard to object to a Johnson deal on unionist grounds if the DUP was in favour.
As Rory Carroll reported over the weekend, the DUP’s response to the plan currently being explored by the UK and the EU has been non-committal.
This morning there is new evidence that the DUP may be turning against what is being proposed. An Irish Times story quotes the DUP MP Jim Shannon saying anything that does not treat Northern Ireland the same as England would be unacceptable. Shannon said:
It is simple. Are we being treated the same as England? No, we are not. Therefore, if we are not being treated the same as England, then we are not going to accept it.
We don’t know the full details of the latest plan, but everything we have been told about it says it does not treat Northern Ireland in the same way as England.
Updated
Brexit deal 'may be possible this week', says Irish deputy PM
Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, said this morning that a Brexit deal “may ... be possible this week” ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. But he also said it was important to be cautious. Speaking to reporters, he said:
On Brexit, the less we say now the better. But we need to give time and space to Michel Barnier [the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator] and his taskforce and the British negotiating team.
I think it’s pretty clear what we’re trying to do, but there are pretty detailed technical discussions now and I think we need to give the time and space for that to happen. Hopefully we can make progress today on those.
He went on:
The message I would give is that we need to be cautious. This is not an easy job. We’ve spent three years trying to get an agreement between the two sides and have made progress at different times.
But certainly the last number of months have been difficult. So I think, as my taoiseach has said, a deal is possible, and it’s possible this month, may even be possible this week. But we’re not there yet.
And, as Michel Barnier said yesterday, there’s still a lot of work to do, so I hope that we can make more progress today.
Our priority is to try to provide certainty to so many people who are awaiting a Brexit outcome and to do that as soon as possible.
Updated
Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images
Here is a question from below the line.
What happens if the government loses the vote on the Queen’s speech?
Before the Fixed-term Parliaments Act was passed in 2011, the Queen’s speech vote counted as a confidence matter and a government that lost was expected to resign. That is what happened in 1886, 1892 and 1924. Those votes all took place after general elections, and on each occasion a new administration took power without another election being called.
The last election was more than two years ago and, if the FTPA was not on the statute book, you would expect Boris Johnson to respond to a defeat on the Queen’s speech by calling an election.
But, of course, that is not an option for him. Under the FTPA a government motion for an early election would need the support of two thirds of MPs in the Commons for it to have force, and Johnson has failed twice to get a motion passed meeting that threshold.
If Johnson does lose the vote, he might try again to force an early election. He could table a confidence motion in his own government (although it is hard to see what this would achieve), or he could table a no confidence motion and ask his MPs to abstain (because if a no confidence motion gets passed, and no other administration takes over within 14 days, an election has to happen under the FTPA). As well as being risky, this would be seen as an abuse of process and, although theoretically possible, it is possible that it could be disallowed by the Speaker.
But Johnson could also just ignore a vote against the Queen’s speech. A defeat like that would not stop him governing; it would not be like a vote against the budget, which would stop the government raising taxes. At the end of the Queen’s speech all MPs are actually voting on is a motion saying they should send a humble address to the Queen thanking her for attending parliament. If Johnson loses the vote, all that technically happens is that the Queen does not get the note. One less thing to read. She probably wouldn’t mind ...
UPDATE: David Howarth, a Cambridge law professor and former Lib Dem MP, has been in touch to say losing a vote on the Queen’s speech does have at least one practical effect. He explains:
You might be interested to know that there would be a practical consequence for the government of losing the motion on the address completely (as opposed to losing on an amendment to it).
Standing order 51 says that the government can’t move a ways and means resolution without notice unless the address has been agreed to. What this means is that if the government fails to get the address through the house, it can’t bring in emergency tax changes, e.g. to beat avoidance schemes, without letting the world know first, which might be very inconvenient in current circumstances.
Perhaps more important, that standing order could be amended by the house to say that the government can’t bring in a budget at all until the address has been passed, something it might do if Boris Johnson loses a vote on the Queen’s speech and then refuses to follow the convention that prime ministers defeated on the Queen’s speech should resign.
Updated
From Bloomberg’s Brexit correspondent Ian Wishart
This is where the Brexit talks stand right now. Michel Barnier told EU diplomats last night there are big problems with the UK's plans for the Irish border, but it would be solved if the govt simply accepted the NI backstop. https://t.co/QFVx3IYlrE
— Ian Wishart (@IanWishart) October 14, 2019
A number of Jeremy Corbyn’s staff are fearing for their jobs after 37 members of his team were summoned to “informal meetings” this week as part of a major shake-up of the Labour leader’s operation, Sky’s Tom Rayner is reporting.
Updated
Boris Johnson has been photographed getting a flu jab in Downing Street. He will be standing in a very crowded House of Lords a bit later, so I suppose there’s no knowing what you might catch ...
Updated
There was once a time when the trendy new journalistic medium was the live blog, but now it is the Twitter thread. Here are three from last night from specialist Brussels watchers which are all worth reading if you are interested in the state of the Brexit talks.
My colleague Jennifer Rankin has a thread starting here.
Michel Barnier said the EU should give one last chance to the British as he met EU diplomats this evening. He said no significant progress had been made over the weekend, but thinks worth continuing talks until Wednesday - one day before European council.
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) October 13, 2019
1.
And here is her conclusion.
Summary: the UK bid to get a new customs partnership negotiated in a week is too complicated, too risky for EU.
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) October 13, 2019
Both sides are reluctantly heading for a third Brexit extension.
12.
RTÉ’s Tony Connelly has a thread starting here.
Here's the latest on the Brexit negotiations:
— Tony Connelly (@tconnellyRTE) October 13, 2019
1/ EU officials and diplomats are playing down prospects for a breakthrough in the coming days, with one senior figure saying a deal at the summit would be "ambitious"
And Mujtaba Rahman from the Eurasia Group consultancy has a thread starting here.
As I say in earlier thread, opposition from TF50 very much expected - even by Irish side. Council believes deal doable if squint hard enough *&* if UK works on customs model on basis of initial backstop text. Important to note that Commission has a lot of leverage over Heads 1/3 https://t.co/y1K6fYKPCE
— Mujtaba Rahman (@Mij_Europe) October 13, 2019
TF50 is Taskforce 50, the EU’s Brexit negotiating team.
Rahman has also posted this this morning.
Back to Paris to assess🌤🌦🌧🌩. Chaotic week for Brexit & EU ahead of EUCO later in week. Even if Council tad more optimistic than TF - very diff to see how A50 extension is avoided; whether technical to ratify deal; forced upon BJ by Commons on 19th or needed to seal agreement https://t.co/TORoJcQdFW
— Mujtaba Rahman (@Mij_Europe) October 14, 2019
EUCO is the European council – the body comprising EU heads of government holding a summit starting on Thursday.
Updated
Queen's speech branded 'farcical' as talks in EU still fail to achieve breakthrough
When the Labour party has to decide what is going to be in its election manifesto, it holds what’s called a clause V meeting, where the shadow cabinet, the national executive committee and assorted union leaders thrash things out over the course of a day. It is the ultimate “smoke-filled room”, although of course these days there’s no smoke.
The Conservatives do things differently, but even the party traditionally associated with the monarchy has probably never held a manifesto event quite like this - the Queen reading out 20-odd legislative proposals from the throne in the House of Lords, addressing hundreds of peers dressed in ermine, with MPs standing at the back. Parliament normally holds a Queens’s speech every year, setting out the legislative programme for the following 12 months, but Boris Johnson’s government has no majority and it has no prospect of being able to pass most of the measures being announced this morning. In fact, this could become the first Queen’s speech to be voted down for almost 100 years. The opposition have said that, in practice, today is all about showcasing a Conservative policy platform for the election, and it is hard to disagree.
This is how Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, put it in a statement last night.
This Queen’s speech is farcical. It is just an uncosted wish list which the government has no intention and no means to deliver, and nothing more than a pre-election party political broadcast.
Here is our overnight preview story.
Normally the Queen’s speech is the main event of the day. But, as ever, Brexit eclipses everything, and if there is any news from Brussels today about the progress of the talks, that will overshadow anything said at Westminster. As of last night, the negotiations had still failed to achieve a breakthrough. Here is our summary.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11am: Roseanna Cunningham, Scotland’s environment secretary, addresses the Scottish National party conference. Other speakers at the conference are Derek Mackay, the finance secretary, at 12.15pm, and John Swinney, the deputy first minister, at 3.25pm.
11.25am: The state opening of parliament, with the Queen’s speech.
2.30pm: MPs begin the debate on the Queen’s speech. After a statement from the Speaker, John Bercow, and speeches from two backbenchers, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson will deliver the main opening speeches.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although mostly I will be focusing on Brexit and the Queen’s speech. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
Updated
@Andrew quick question: what are the protocols if MPs reject Queen speech? Given the numbers in current parliament it is highly likely..