Queen’s Speech brings no certainty

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s defeat in the courts over Parliament’s longest prorogation in living memory was a humiliation. But Westminster’s second, much shorter, prorogation to enable a Queen’s Speech passed without fanfare.

The monarch yesterday set out a major legislative programme on behalf of her government.

It contained 26 Bills covering subjects from the environment to criminal justice and family law.

But, of course, the prime minister’s vision for a postbrexit Britain was central, with seven Bills brought forward covering areas from fishing to farming and finance.

Mr Johnson said the programme for government would allow the UK to seize the opportunities offered by Brexit.

In ordinary times, a Queen’s Speech would offer some certainty over the future direction of travel for the UK.

It would allow business, and the myriad tentacles of local and national government, to plot a course ahead.

But these are extraordinary times and, depending on the prevailing political winds, there is a real possibility that not a single word of the programme outlined may come to pass.

It is on shifting sands that Brexit – and ultimately the future of the UK – is being built.

The prime minister has days, not weeks, to deliver Brexit and make his vision a reality. His success, or otherwise, will determine whether the Queen’s Speech was little more than a grand manifesto launch ahead of a general election.