Queen’s speech promises Brexit soon, and ambitious domestic agenda

The last time Queen Elizabeth II presided over the opening of the British Parliament, only 66 days ago, she arrived in a gilded, horse-drawn carriage and wore an 18-foot velvet cape — a regal symbol of continuity at a time when her country was being convulsed by the debate over Brexit.

On Thursday, the queen was back to open Parliament again, arriving by car and clad in a simple teal coat — a no-nonsense approach for a nation that, in the wake of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s sweeping election victory last week, wants desperately to put Brexit behind it and get back to a semblance of normalcy.

The queen laid out an ambitious agenda for Johnson’s government that will include major investments in the National Health Service and law enforcement, ending the austerity policies that characterized nearly a decade of Conservative government. She also confirmed that, as Johnson promised, Britain will be out of the European Union by Jan 31.

“My ministers will seek a future relationship with the European Union based on a free-trade agreement that benefits the whole of the United Kingdom,” the queen said, delivering the government’s upbeat, likely unrealistic, goal of hammering out a comprehensive deal by the end of next year.

But outside the swelling chorus of optimism in the House of Lords, where the queen spoke, there were a few discordant notes.

Just before the queen spoke, one part of her kingdom renewed its quest to break away; the Scottish National Party formally demanded that Scotland be allowed to hold another referendum on independence. Johnson will almost certainly rebuff the Scots, but since the nationalists rolled back the Conservative Party in Scotland, they are sure to remain a thorn in his side.

And retail sales fell for a fourth consecutive month in November, deepening the main street gloom and underscoring the economic threat still posed by the split with the EU. Still, compared to the last queen’s speech, which was almost lost in the din over Brexit, this ceremony was relatively tranquil.

In October, Johnson’s party had no majority and was essentially powerless to pass any contentious legislation. Britain’s Supreme Court had rebuked him for illegally suspending Parliament amid a bitter debate over his Brexit policy. The queen’s speech amounted to a political pitch by Johnson to voters before a general election, fueling criticism that he was exploiting the monarch.

This time, the political context could hardly be more different. With Johnson commanding a hefty majority, his plan to leave the EU will sail through. He is now shifting attention to what he calls the “people’s priorities”: spending on health care, education and law and order. The queen’s speech was designed to start delivering on his campaign promises.

Among them is a pledge to channel more money into the increasingly beleaguered National Health Service. The government enshrined in law Johnson’s election promise to increase funding of the health service by 33.9 billion pounds (about $43 billion) by the fiscal year covering 2023 and 2024.

The government said it would set up a Royal Commission to review the criminal justice system and pass new espionage legislation to help law enforcement agencies cope with hostile state actors and domestic threats.

It also promised a tougher stand on crime, increasing sentences for violent and sexual offenders and requiring those convicted of the worst offenses, including terrorism, to serve more of their sentences.

During the final days of the campaign, Britain was rattled by a stabbing attack near London Bridge that killed two people as well as the assailant, an Islamic extremist who had been released from prison. Police classified it as an act of terrorism, and it prompted a debate over sentencing for extremists.

Johnson is taking aim at the court that ruled against him for suspending Parliament. He plans to review the powers of the nation’s top judges through a new Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission. And having bridled under an act of Parliament that makes it hard for prime ministers to call a general election at a time of their choosing, he is now moving to scrap it.

“This is not a program for one year or one Parliament,” Johnson declared in the House of Commons “It is a blueprint for the future of Britain.”

Jeremy Corbyn, the vanquished leader of the Labour Party, claimed in Parliament on Thursday that the prime minister had appropriated much of his social agenda from the opposition and mocked him for having to pass a law to force his own government to invest in the National Health Service. But when Corbyn took credit for shifting the debate, he was met with hoots of derision from the Conservative backbenches.

For all of Johnson’s efforts to turn the page on Brexit, it still hangs over the country — and is likely to continue to do so.

His government will propose bills on agriculture, fisheries and trade — areas where Britain will assume powers now exercised by the EU. There will be laws to create a new immigration system, which could be in place at the end of 2020 and would remove the special status that citizens of other EU countries currently have in Britain.

Johnson will enshrine in law his pledge to finish negotiations on a trade deal by the end of 2020, ruling out any extension of the transition period. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, described that timetable as “extremely challenging.” Analysts said it raised the prospect of a so-called “no-deal Brexit,” which they said would be economically disastrous.

In Britain’s topsy-turvy year, when conventions were shattered and norms discarded, the ceremony Thursday was a return to the reassuring rituals. Members of the House of Commons were summoned to the House of Lords by the Lady Usher of the Black Rod, who banged her staff on the door after the lawmakers had, by custom, slammed it in her face.

Johnson and Corbyn walked together between the chambers, the prime minister making a cheerful effort to engage his defeated rival while the Labour leader studiously ignored him.

But the queen, having gone through the entire exercise two months earlier, was not keen to repeat every part of it. Since October, she has had her own turmoil to deal with: the suspension of her second son, Prince Andrew, from his public duties after a storm of outrage over an interview he gave to the BBC about his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

She will next address the British people Christmas Day.

c.2019 The New York Times Company