May softens Brexit approach

LONDON • Weakened by a disastrous election, British Prime Minister Theresa May ditched some of her most controversial campaign pledges and suggested she was willing to soften her approach to leaving the European Union as Queen Elizabeth delivered the government’s legislative agenda to Parliament Wednesday.

The focus on Brexit was clear as eight of 27 bills outlined in the Queen’s speech dealt with the technicalities of ending Britain’s membership in the EU.

The prime minister, in comments delivered after the speech, promised to work with “humility and resolve” to overcome the divisions in Britain.

“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,” she said.

May called the June 8 snap election expecting an overwhelming victory that would silence dissenters and give her a mandate to push ahead with plans to leave the EU and drastically limit immigration as Britain ends its 44-year membership. Instead, May lost her majority as many voters shunned the government’s approach to Brexit and rebelled against seven years of austerity.

British businesses generally welcomed the prime minister’s softer rhetoric.

The 91-year-old Queen Elizabeth went ahead with the ceremonial opening of Parliament despite the announcement that her husband, Prince Philip, was in the hospital. Buckingham Palace said Philip, 96, was hospitalized as a precaution for treatment of an infection.

Even before news of Prince Philip’s illness, the government had announced that the speech would be delivered with less pageantry than usual as a result of the timing of the snap election.

For instance, Elizabeth arrived at Parliament in a car, rather than a horsedrawn carriage, and delivered the speech in everyday dress, instead of the customary royal robes.

The primary issue was scheduling. The state opening took place only days after another huge annual event, Trooping the Colour, a celebration of the Queen’s birthday.

Both ceremonies take weeks of preparation and planning, and it was deemed too difficult to prepare for two such events so close together.

The queen wore a blue hat dotted with a circle of yellow-centred flowers that prompted many on social media to suggest that she was offering a nod to the EU flag.

The European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, posted an image of her during the ceremony on Twitter:

“Clearly the EU still inspires some in the U.K.,” he wrote.