May promises to listen harder on Brexit – Queen’s Speech

May is under increasing pressure to do a deal with the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) to support her government after nearly two weeks of talks.

Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, whose surprisingly strong election performance damaged May, called the speech “thin gruel”. He said the government was ignoring the need for important domestic reforms to promote social justice.

“A threadbare legislative programme from a government that has lost its majority and apparently run out of ideas altogether,” he told parliament.

The Queen delivered the speech in a toned-down ceremony that dispensed with a horse-drawn procession to parliament, and she swapped her crown for a blue hat. The changes to the ceremony were planned and due to a lack of rehearsal time.

She was accompanied by Prince Charles after her 96-year-old husband, Philip, was taken to hospital with an infection.

BREXIT FOCUS

As London sweltered in unseasonably hot weather, about 250 protesters gathered outside parliament after the speech, blaming the deadly fire in west London on years of Conservative cuts and demanding the fall of May’s government.

May apologised for the government’s inadequate response to that fire and acknowledged the country faced “difficult times”.

“Not every problem can be solved by an act of parliament,” she said. “Our response to disaster and acts of terror which take the lives of innocent people must be this: compassion, unity, resolve.”

The legislative programme spelt out a Brexit-dominated set of policies and indicated May was keen to secure broad support for leaving the EU – a change in tone from the strident approach she set out before the June 8 election.

“While this will be a government that consults and listens, we are clear that we are going to see Brexit through, working with parliament, business, the devolved administrations and others to ensure a smooth and orderly withdrawal,” she said.

A briefing document issued alongside the speech said the government would consult more closely with businesses and other interested parties to “test and validate positions and to continue to build support from the business community as we move forward”.

“This welcome change in tone needs to be backed by clarity and action now,” the Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry lobby group, Carolyn Fairbairn, said.

“Firms will expect all politicians to put pragmatism before politics, starting with Brexit,” she said.

Manufacturers’ group EEF said industry needed more information on how the benefits of the EU’s single market and customs union would be maintained throughout Britain’s exit.

“There must be a much closer partnership with industry if we’re to avoid economic chaos when we leave the EU,” EEF Chief Executive Terry Scuoler said.

May’s programme for government was largely restricted to the technical work of making sure Brexit can happen: a bill that sets out how the government will transpose huge swathes of EU law into British law and separate bills on related topics such as immigration, customs and fisheries.

Beyond Brexit, the plan included a promise to pay more attention to public concerns about austerity, but did not alter the government’s commitment to bring down the budget deficit.

It also outlined plans to allow sectors such as electric vehicles and satellite technology to maintain a competitive edge, as well as promising to deliver an industrial strategy that spread prosperity across the country.

May’s plans will need the support of Northern Ireland’s DUP, which is expected to use its 10 votes to back her in exchange for more funding to the province, policies geared towards boosting its economy and assurances that Brexit will not cut it off from the neighbouring Irish Republic.

But that deal has yet to be announced, and on Tuesday the DUP said the talks were not going as was expected. The party should not be taken for granted, it said.

(This story has been refiled to correct dateline to June 21)

(Editing by Louise Ireland)