Queen’s speech outlines plans for Brexit, NHS

BORIS Johnson unveiled the “most radical Queen’s Speech in a generation” with measures to toughen up criminal justice, invest in the NHS and deliver on the “people’s priorities”.

The Prime Minister’s legislative programme includes Bills which will ensure the most serious violent offenders — including terrorists — serve longer prison terms, a proposal he controversially first announced in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack last month.

A Royal Commission will be established to improve the “efficiency and effectiveness” of the criminal justice process, and the Government will enshrine in law a commitment on the National Health Service’s (NHS) funding, with an extra £33.9 billion per year provided by 2023/24.

Of the 25 Bills, seven are devoted to Britain’s departure from the EU — with legislation on trade, agriculture, fisheries, immigration, financial services and private international law. The key Withdrawal Agreement Bill (Wab) — which implements the PM’s Brexit deal — would allow the UK to leave on January 31, and deliver an implementation period until December 31, 2020.

Addressing both Houses of Parliament, the Queen said her Government’s “priority” was to take the UK out of the EU on January 31 — but that it would also embark on an “ambitious programme of domestic reform that delivers on the people’s priorities”.

She said the “integrity and prosperity” of the UK is of the “utmost importance to my Government” — amid fresh calls from the SNP to grant Holyrood the power to hold a second vote on Scottish independence.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left) and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walk through the Peers’ Lobby during the State opening of Parliament by Queen Elizabeth II, in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London on Thursday. Inset, Queen Elizabeth II reads The Queen’s Speech.