Key issues surrounding the Queen’s Speech

The Queen’s Speech will set out the Government’s legislative agenda for the coming year. Here we look at the key issues surrounding the set-piece event.

The Queen will open the new Parliament by announcing the Government’s plans for new laws. With her authority diminished after failing to secure a majority, Theresa May is facing the prospect of relying on the DUP to ensure the Queen’s Speech passes.

To secure some form of agreement with the unionists, the Conservatives will have to make some concessions.

Brexit secretary David Davis has said the position the Government is in means it is expected that “some elements of the manifesto will be pruned away”. Plans to drop the triple lock on pensions and introduce means-testing for the winter fuel allowance are likely to be ditched.

She could also avoid divisive issues such as a vote on repealing the fox hunting ban. The PM’s pet project of introducing a new wave of grammar schools, which has provoked anger among some of her own backbenchers, may also fall by the wayside.

So what is likely to make it into the speech? The slimmed-down agenda is expected to focus on the most pressing issues, such as Brexit, and new measures to tackle terrorism in the UK.

Could the Government be defeated when MPs vote on the Queen’s Speech?

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn certainly hopes so. He has insisted his fight to take the keys to No 10 “is still on”.

Once Sinn Fein’s seven non-sitting MPs and the Speaker and deputy speakers have been taken out of the mix, Mrs May needs to secure 320 votes for the programme to pass. With the support of the DUP’s 10 MPs and all of her MPs, the PM would have 326 votes.

If Mrs May loses the vote, does that bring down the Government? Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act, an early general election can only be held if more than two-thirds of the whole House backs such a move or a motion of no confidence is passed.