21/06/2017 Wednesday in Parliament

Hello, and welcome to the programme, on the day the Queen came

to Westminster for the state opening of Parliament.

Her Majesty set out the bills the Government wants to pass,

My Government will seek to maintain a deep and special partnership with

the European allies. And to forge new trading relationships across the

globe. But Theresa May said her Government

would build a stronger and safer The Lords too give their first

verdict on the speech. While back in the Commons

a conservative MP uses his big May I wish to reassure members, may

I reassure the Prime Minister, I am still young...

LAUGHTER Still thrusting.

But let's begin at the start of the day.

This was a rather unusual state opening.

Because no one was expecting a general election at the start

of June, there was no time to prepare for the traditional pomp

and ceremony with coaches, horses and mass ranks of guardsmen.

And so it was a very scaled back procession that set off

With the Queen travelling by car to Westminster accompanied

The Duke of Edinburgh was unusually absent too,

having been taken to hospital for treatment for an infection.

Inside the Lords there was a more familiar look to things -

with peers in their traditional red robes and ermine -

despite the sweltering heat and the Yeoman of the guard lining

When the Queen - without her ceremonial robes -

and Prince Charles arrived they processed through the Lords

gallery walking behind the imperial state crown

and took their seats on the thrones in the House of Lords.

And then it was time to despatch Black Rod to the House of Commons

As is the tradition, the door to the Commons

was slammed in his face, showing the independence

And there was a more recent tradition, a heckle from veteran

Mr Speaker, the Queen commands this honourable house to attend Her

Majesty immediately in the house of Peers. Get your skates on! First

race is half-past two! And with that Mps left the Commons -

processing out of their chamber - through central lobby

and on into the House of Lords. Normally the Prime Minister

and the Leader of the Opposition exchange pleasantries,

but there was little chit chat between Theresa May

and Jeremy Corbyn. And when MPs had arrived at the bar

at the back of the Lords, the Queen read out the contents

of the speech - the 64th time Beginning with the Government's

plans for Brexit. My Government's priority is to

secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union.

My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the

devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest

possible consensus on the country's future outside the European Union.

Establishing new national policies on immigration, international

sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture and fisheries.

There was a pledge to bring in a Bill on the next

And a pledge to reform technical education.

There was no word on grammar schools.

But, instead, there was a pledge to prioritise mental health

My Government will continue to work to ensure that every child has the

opportunity to attend a good school and that all schools are fairly

funded. Proposals will be brought forward to

ban unfair tenants fees, promote fairness and transparency in the

housing market and help ensure more homes are built. My ministers will

work to improve social care and will bring forward proposals for

consultation. There'd be a public inquiry

into the Grenfell Tower block fire. To ascertain the causes and ensure

that the appropriate lessons are learned. To support victims my

Government will take forward measures to introduce an independent

public advocate who will act for bereaved families after a public

disaster, and support them at public inquests. In the light of the

terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, my Government's

counterterrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the police

and security services have all powers they need and that the length

of custodial sentences for terrorism related offences are sufficient to

keep the population safe. So, a legislative programme

containing 27 bills with several focused on the country's departure

from the European Union, and largely stripped of the more

controversial elements of the Conservatives'

election manifesto. The nine-minute address saw symbolic

policies such as the expansion of grammar schools shelved -

and others like controversial social care plans given

the status of consultations. And there was one other omission -

no mention of the proposed state visit by the President

of the United States, Donald Trump. A couple of hours later MPs gathered

to begin their debate on what had been proposed,

but before they began they held a minute's silence to remember those

who'd lost their lives in the recent terror attacks and the

Grenfell Tower block fire. On these occasions the opposition

leader gives their thoughts on the speech before the Prime

Minister. Jeremy Corbyn began by talking

about the fire at Grenfell Tower which left dozens dead and hundreds

homeless. What makes it both a tragedy

and an outrage is that every single one of those deaths

could have been avoided. Something has gone

horrifically wrong. The North Kensington

community are demanding answers, and they are

entitled to those answers. Thousands of people living

in tower blocks around the country need urgent reassurance,

and the emergency services, especially Fire And Rescue Services,

in this case, deserve our deepest Turning to the speech itself

he argued there was very little in it for a two year session

of Parliament. A threadbare legislative

programme from a Government that has lost

its majority and apparently ran This would be a thin legislative

programme even if it was There's not enough in there

to fill up one year! He turned to what was

not in the speech. To cheers he said there was no

mention of scrapping the winter fuel Mercifully, neither is there any

mention of ditching the triple lock. Pensioners across Britain will also

be grateful to know that the Tory commitment on that

has also been binned. And older people and their families

might also be keen for some clarity around the Government's

policy on social care. Whether it's still what was

originally set out in the Conservative manifesto,

or whether it is what it was later amended

to, or whether it is now And I'm sure it's just a matter

of historical record, but looking on a Conservative

website today the manifesto has been It apparently

no longer exists. No deal is not better

than a bad deal. It is a bad deal and not

viable for this country. We need full access to the single

market and a customs arrangement that provide Britain,

as the Brexit secretary has pledged, and I quote, "with the exact

same benefits as now". Neither must arbitrary

targets for immigration be prioritised over the jobs and living

standards of the people of Let's decide our immigration

policy on the basis of the needs of our communities and our

economy, not to the tune of dog whistle cynicism of Lynton Crosby

or the hate campaigns or indeed... Or indeed, Mr Speaker, the hate

campaigns of some sections of our press, whose idea of patriotism

is to base themselves in an overseas And he concluded by

reflecting on the outcome The Prime Minister began the

election campaign saying if I lose just six seats I will

lose this election. When it came to it, she lost more

than four times that many From Cardiff to Canterbury,

from Stockton to Kensington, people And they sent an unequivocal message

that austerity must be in London and Manchester and said

the Queen's speech included measures Theresa May also reflected

on the recent terror attacks in London and Manchester and said

the Queen's speech included measures We will work to reach

international agreements that regulate cyberspace,

to prevent the spread of extremism and terrorist planning,

and encourage tech companies to do more to remove

harmful content from their networks. And we will establish

a new commission for countering extremism, as a statutory body

to help fight hatred and extremism in the same way

as we have fought racism, because this extremism is every bit

as insidious and destructive to our values, and we will stop

at nothing to defeat it. The whole country was heartbroken

by the horrific loss of life and the utter devastation

that we have seen. I am sure the whole House

will join me in sending our deepest condolences to the friends

and families of all those who lost loved ones, and today we also think

of those who survive but lost One lady I had met ran from the fire

wearing no more than a So let me be absolutely

clear, the support on the ground for families in the initial

hours was not good enough. People were left without belongings,

without roofs over their heads, without even basic information about

what had happened, what they should That was a failure of the state,

local and national, to help people As Prime Minister,

I apologise for that failure. And as Prime Minister I have

taken responsibility for doing what we can

to put things right. Mrs May turned to Labour's

performance in the recent election. He fought a spirited campaign

and he came a good second. Which was both better

than the pundits predicted and that The election also showed that,

as it faces the big challenges of our future, our country is divided -

red versus blue, young versus old, As I said here last week,

the test for all of us is whether we choose to reflect

divisions or help the country With humility and resolve,

this Government will seek We will do what is in the national

interest and we will work with anyone in any party

that is prepared to do the same. How is the interim

Prime Minister going to LAUGHTER Going to convince

the country that she can negotiate a successful

Brexit within the time limit with 27 other EU countries, when she hasn't

been able even to negotiate the deal with ten Democratic Unionist members

of this house in the time limit Can I thank the honourable

gentleman for giving me the opportunity to welcome

the work that the Right Honourable member, the Secretary of State

for Exiting the European Union, has undertaken in relation to preparing

our negotiations and starting those formal negotiations

on Monday of this week? And I will be in Brussels for the EU

Council later this week And she concluded that the last

few months had been It has been an unsettling

time which has tested the spirit of our country,

but we are a resilient country. Our response to disaster and acts

of terror which takes the lives of innocent people must be this:

compassion, unity, resolve. For we are a great nation

and a great people. We have been through and survived

the toughest of times Once again, we can and

will grow stronger from The Queen's speech

on its own will not solve every challenge

our country faces. Not every problem can be solved

by an act of Parliament. It is a step forward to building

a more compassionate, more united That is what this Government

will aim to achieve, it is what this Queen's

speech will deliver. and I commend the Queen's

speech to the house. It was then the turn of other party

leaders and backbench MPs to give their initial reactions

to the Government's plans. And much of the focus

was the arguments that The Prime Minister's gamble

backfired and she's desperately clung onto power, at least for now,

and stumbled into the Brexit negotiations on Monday morning,

regardless of the almost all-male team equipped with no credible plan,

no mandate and seemingly no I can see the Prime Minister

floundering, but where is the stable Government that the Prime

Minister promised us? The longest serving MP,

the father of the house argued for continued membership

of the single market. We can show that we

can rise above this. I'm glad that there are channels

that are open to the Liberals, the Labour Party, I am

sure the Scottish Nationalists we don't really know what the basis

is on from which we are negotiating I think it's will have to be

carried by what I think cross-party majority that this house

could easily command, if we were able to put in to place some

processes to achieve it. One, we want to do

free trade agreements with other countries around

the world and you can't do it if you're in the customs market

or the customs union. Two, they made it very clear

that they had to pay budget contributions and accept free

movement, which we have no intention It is one of the few things the two

campaigns agreed upon. We all told the British public

we would be leaving the single That was repeated in the Article 50

letter and was appreciated by the EU and voted on and approved

overwhelmingly by the House of Her Majesty has launched

many ships in her time, never such an empty vessel

as the one today. I am not sure whether wasting

the Monarch's time is a treasonous act, I hope

for the Prime Minister's sake it is not, but the Queen's speech

shows that we have a Government who has lost touch with its people

and lost touch with reality. The Prime Minister continues

to pursue, it is clear from the recent statement,

that she seeks to pursue a extreme version of Brexit,

having failed to gain any There is no plan to keep Britain

in the single market as the right honourable member

mentioned earlier or indeed for the We will therefore seek to amend

the Queen's speech to add in membership of the single

market and of the custom's union. When people voted

in the European Union referendum to leave

the European union, they voted to leave

the single market and the customs I believe that Northern Ireland

must, along with the rest of the And there was a clear warning over

the direction the DUP wanted to see. We work with Government

during the course of the next period in this party

to ensure that we do deliver prosperity, to deliver greater

spending on health and education and that we do see an end to the tunnel,

the dark tunnel of austerity. This Queens' speech does

not herald any hope for This Government and the preceding

Government have knocked out the rungs of the ladder

of opportunity for so That reach to the first

rung is now very high and it is very difficult

to get into further Or into nursing without

the nursing bursary. When Southern is not happening

because of the election result, no grammar schools,

no proposals in social care, no scrapping of free school

meals for infants. We need to see a Government,

not discovered, we need to see at the next election

a Government that looks at those who are aspirant, gives them

the opportunity to succeed. This Government, this

Queen's speech is I wish the Government well

in what it is trying to do on Brexit, I will give it my

support, not unqualified, I will try as a backbencher to be

helpfully critical. I appreciate we're going,

I want to work with other members of this house to try and achieve a

sensible outcome that doesn't damage our economic well-being

and our national security. If we don't get this right,

we are going to be in Just like MPs, peers have also been

away from Westminster But unlike MPs, their Lordships

haven't had to face any battles When the Lords commenced its debate

the first speaker was a seasoned Conservative and former

Cabinet Minister. It looks like a good

election for Labour. Indeed, they are behaving as if they

have won it, despite being 56 seats behind the Tories and

the new rapturous enthusiasm on the benches opposite for

Jeremy Corbyn is only matched by their relief

that he is not running the country. Then came the youngest

member of the Lords, She spoke about theories why

the State Opening had Some of you may know that

I was David Cameron's press secretary and whilst

I have huge operation for my former boss, I

think it is fair to say he did give me one or two PR

challenges over the years. However, faced with an unforeseen,

shall we put it, delay of the Queen's speech, I don't think

even I could have come up with slow drying ink on vellum,

so I have to hand it to my successors in number

ten for that stroke of genius. Lord Newby said he'd

struggled to write his speech because of uncertainty over

what might be in the Queen's Speech. But Sunday came and

the fog hadn't lifted. The only new announcement was that

because it was proving so difficult to write this

year's Queen speech, the Government had decided not

to have one next year at all. I suspect there are

a number of issues on which the Conservative and DUP

Government might not find all the MPs of their respective

parties in total agreement. Particularly, if the Prime Minister

fails to put jobs and the economy of this country at the heart

of the Brexit negotiations. My Lords, I want

to be clear on this, should the House of Commons send

this house legislation that has been amended from the

Government's original intentions then ministers should not

seek to use your lordship's house to thwart the mandate of

a democratically elected house. Last year, the vote

was not just to leave the EU, it was a profound

and justified expression that our country often does not

work in the way that it should for millions

of ordinary, working families. For that reason, we

will work to build a stronger economy so we can improve

people's living standards and fund the public services

on which we all depend. Finally, The tradition

is that the opening speeches in the Commons on the day of state

opening are light hearted affairs, given by two Government MPs,

one older hand and one It fell to Richard Benyon to get

the day under way and he revealed Mr Speaker, I'm not the first

Richard Benyon to be asked to move My great, great grandfather

was the MP for Berkshire Though, in many ways

a great man, there is no record of him ever troubling

Hansard with any speech. However, he was asked by Disraeli

to move the loyal address in 1869, but replied

that though mindful of the honour as a matter

of principle, he never As you know, my father was one

of your predecessors as member for Buckingham and he told

that story to Speaker Thomas who clasp a hand to his head and said,

how I wish there were more like him Mr Speaker, I still think

of myself as young. But being asked to do

this singular honour reminds me that I am,

as golfers put it, on the back nine. In the election that we have

all just enjoyed or endured, whatever your perspective,

I faced a Labour candidate who was born a year after I was selected

to fight the seat I now hold. Teams of therapists will be needed

to help me overcome the brutal reality that I've gone

straight from being young thruster to old codger

with nothing in between. The second speech came

from another Conservative. It is a great privilege for me,

the son of Ghanaian this country in the 1960s

to perform this duty today. My mother lived in Liverpool

where her elder brother She remembers Sir Winston

Churchill's funeral and She certainly would

never have believed that her only son would come

a British member of Parliament. This is one of the strengths

of this country. I know people are wondering,

the custom is for this speech to be delivered

by a young, thrusting MP. After seven years in this house,

I was slightly confused One of my honourable

friends, a former whip, said, oh, you're meant to be

the young one, are you? In my intake of 2010,

I have seen such meteoric high-flyers as the Business

Secretary, a Home Secretary and even May I reassure the Prime Minister I

am still young, still thrusting. And that's it from me for now but do

join me at the same time tomorrow when that debate on the Queen's

speech continues, but for