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| Brexit department will be wound up on 31 January, government confirms – live news | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the Queen’s speech and Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn speaking in the subsequent Commons debate | Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the Queen’s speech and Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn speaking in the subsequent Commons debate |
| Fresh from her Bute House media event (see 10.10am), calling for both section 30 order powers to hold a second Scottish independence referendum and the permanent devolution of those powers to Holyrood, Nicola Sturgeon has faced sustained questioning on her domestic record at FMQs. | |
| The Scottish Tory leader, Jackson Carlaw, raised a series of public service failures revealed over the past week, on ferries, railways and hospitals. Yesterday the Scottish government stripped Abellio, Scotland’s main railway operator, of their franchise three years early after anger from commuters over cancellations and poor services. On the same day the finance secretary revealed that taxpayers were facing a £100m bill for two lifeline ferries after a catalogue of errors and mismanagement by contractors. | |
| Carlaw accused Sturgeon of “showboating in front of the cameras” this morning, while ignoring the patients let down by poor hospital waiting times. He said every public service run by the SNP was ending the year in a worse place than when it began, while the Lib Dem leader, Willie Rennie, told Sturgeon that “every hour she takes off to hold another press conference at Bute House is another hour wasted trying to sort out [public services] that matter to the people of Scotland”. | |
| Sturgeon accused Rennie of “borrowing his question” from Carlaw, and said childcare staffing was increasing, waiting times improving and the attainment gap closing, although citing the same Pisa education study that showed Scotland’s performance in maths and science at a record low, and reading levels lower than they were at the start of the millennium. | |
| The Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard, raised an interesting point about Scottish workers missing out on renewables jobs across the country, while those who are employed are stuck on short-term contracts. The union Unite has talked about a “renewables scandal” as jobs are placed increasingly with overseas firms. | |
| Here is some video of Jeremy Corbyn doing his best to avoid even looking at Boris Johnson, let alone talk to him, as they process from the Commons chamber to the Lords together to listen to the Queen’s speech. Johnson does not seem too hurt by the snub. | |
| The October Queen’s speech promised an environment bill, to improve air and water quality and to tackle plastic pollution, and the same bill is in today’s Queen’s speech. But now the government is saying explicitly the legislation will “ban the export of polluting plastic waste to non-OECD countries”, with industry, NGOs and councils being consulted on when this could be achieved. | The October Queen’s speech promised an environment bill, to improve air and water quality and to tackle plastic pollution, and the same bill is in today’s Queen’s speech. But now the government is saying explicitly the legislation will “ban the export of polluting plastic waste to non-OECD countries”, with industry, NGOs and councils being consulted on when this could be achieved. |
| This will be tough - Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea and India all take our plastic waste - and we have yet to build a domestic recycling industry which can keep this waste and use it here in a circular economy. We export two thirds of our plastic waste. | |
| The Department for Exiting the European Union will be wound up on 31 January, the government has announced. A government spokesman said the news was broken to DExEU staff today. | The Department for Exiting the European Union will be wound up on 31 January, the government has announced. A government spokesman said the news was broken to DExEU staff today. |
| It has been been reported that, after the UK leaves the EU at the end of January, Boris Johnson will conducted an extensive reshuffle involving changes to the way Whitehall is organised. One option is for DExEU’s functions to be taken over by a beefed-up Department for International Trade, which would take the lead in negotiating post-Brexit trade deals. | |
| In his foreword to the government briefing notes (pdf) on the Queen’s speech, Boris Johnson makes it clear he is planning a programme for the next 10 years. He says: | |
| Unless the repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act is going to go a lot further than any of us were expecting (the Act is the law saying a general election has to take place every five years, replacing the Septennial Act which used to be the legislation setting a time limit for the maximum length of a parliament), Johnson must be assuming that winning the next election won’t be too much of a problem. | |
| Leo Varadkar reckons Boris Johnson is eccentric – but in a good way. | Leo Varadkar reckons Boris Johnson is eccentric – but in a good way. |
| The Irish taoiseach outed himself as something of a fan of the prime minister in an TV interview on Wednesday. | The Irish taoiseach outed himself as something of a fan of the prime minister in an TV interview on Wednesday. |
| “He is the guy that you see, he’s bright, he’s witty, very personable, but he is a bit eccentric as well. He’s not the standard politician but that’s probably a good thing on balance,” he told Virgin Media One. | “He is the guy that you see, he’s bright, he’s witty, very personable, but he is a bit eccentric as well. He’s not the standard politician but that’s probably a good thing on balance,” he told Virgin Media One. |
| Asked whether he considered Johnson to be really a Europhile and not a Eurosceptic he replied: | Asked whether he considered Johnson to be really a Europhile and not a Eurosceptic he replied: |
| Despite Johnson reportedly mocking Varadkar’s surname – “why isn’t he called Murphy like the rest of them?” – the two men hit it off during a meeting in October that paved the Brexit deal. | Despite Johnson reportedly mocking Varadkar’s surname – “why isn’t he called Murphy like the rest of them?” – the two men hit it off during a meeting in October that paved the Brexit deal. |
| The prime minister’s Love Actually spoof campaign video probably boosted his stock with the taoiseach. Varadkar is a fan of the film and cited it when visiting Theresa May at Downing Street in 2017. | The prime minister’s Love Actually spoof campaign video probably boosted his stock with the taoiseach. Varadkar is a fan of the film and cited it when visiting Theresa May at Downing Street in 2017. |
| There was nothing in the Queen’s speech two months ago about new spying legislation. But now the government is proposing legislation to give the security services “the tools they need to disrupt hostile state activity”. | There was nothing in the Queen’s speech two months ago about new spying legislation. But now the government is proposing legislation to give the security services “the tools they need to disrupt hostile state activity”. |
| The government notes (pdf) say this is something that has been planned since the Salisbury poisoning attack. The government says: | The government notes (pdf) say this is something that has been planned since the Salisbury poisoning attack. The government says: |
| Here is the text of the Queen’s speech. | Here is the text of the Queen’s speech. |
| And here is the 151-page government briefing document (pdf) giving details of the bills and other legislative proposals planned for this session of parliament. | And here is the 151-page government briefing document (pdf) giving details of the bills and other legislative proposals planned for this session of parliament. |
| From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn | From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn |
| The Queen’s speech always ends with two messages. | The Queen’s speech always ends with two messages. |
| This is addressed to MPs only, because the House of Lords does not deal with the estimates, the government’s department-by-department spending plans. | This is addressed to MPs only, because the House of Lords does not deal with the estimates, the government’s department-by-department spending plans. |
| The Queen goes on: | The Queen goes on: |
| This means that, notwithstanding what is being announced today, the government reserves the right to introduce other bills. Governments often pass very significant bills at short notice that were never featured in the Queen’s speech. | This means that, notwithstanding what is being announced today, the government reserves the right to introduce other bills. Governments often pass very significant bills at short notice that were never featured in the Queen’s speech. |
| The Queen ends: | The Queen ends: |
| And that’s it. The speech is over. | And that’s it. The speech is over. |
| The final passages are about defence and foreign policy. | The final passages are about defence and foreign policy. |
| To protect members of the armed forces from “vexatious claims”, the government is proposing an armed forces (legal protections) bill. | To protect members of the armed forces from “vexatious claims”, the government is proposing an armed forces (legal protections) bill. |
| More on Johnson and Corbyn, from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg | More on Johnson and Corbyn, from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg |
| From ITV’s Joe Pike | From ITV’s Joe Pike |
| The Queen turns to the constitution. | The Queen turns to the constitution. |
| Sometimes the Queen’s speech is significant for what it does not say. This tells us very little about what the government is planning, but there was a passage in the Conservative manifesto that triggered suspicions that Boris Johnson has grand ambitions in this area. It said: | Sometimes the Queen’s speech is significant for what it does not say. This tells us very little about what the government is planning, but there was a passage in the Conservative manifesto that triggered suspicions that Boris Johnson has grand ambitions in this area. It said: |
| Ministers have said very little about what this means in practice. | Ministers have said very little about what this means in practice. |
| The next section of the speech covers the economy and climate change. | The next section of the speech covers the economy and climate change. |
| There will be two bills covering broadband, a telecommunications infrastructure (leasehold property) bill and a telecommunications (connectivity) bill. There will also be an environment bill. | There will be two bills covering broadband, a telecommunications infrastructure (leasehold property) bill and a telecommunications (connectivity) bill. There will also be an environment bill. |
| From Labour’s Anneliese Dodds | From Labour’s Anneliese Dodds |
| Now the Queen is talking about law and order. | Now the Queen is talking about law and order. |
| There are five bills being proposed relating to criminal justice: a counter-terrorism (sentencing and release) bill, a sentencing bill, a serious violence bill, a domestic abuse bill, and a prisoners (disclosure of information about victims) bill – as well as divorce legislation, the divorce, dissolution and separation bill. | There are five bills being proposed relating to criminal justice: a counter-terrorism (sentencing and release) bill, a sentencing bill, a serious violence bill, a domestic abuse bill, and a prisoners (disclosure of information about victims) bill – as well as divorce legislation, the divorce, dissolution and separation bill. |
| The next bit of the speech covers immigration and what might broadly be seen as cost of living measures. The Queen says: | The next bit of the speech covers immigration and what might broadly be seen as cost of living measures. The Queen says: |
| On immigration, there will be an immigration and social security coordination (EU withdrawal) bill. The other bills referred to here are an employment bill, a pension schemes bill, a renters’ reform bill, a fire safety bill, a building safety bill and an online harms bill. | On immigration, there will be an immigration and social security coordination (EU withdrawal) bill. The other bills referred to here are an employment bill, a pension schemes bill, a renters’ reform bill, a fire safety bill, a building safety bill and an online harms bill. |
| More on Johnson and Corbyn. | More on Johnson and Corbyn. |