Keir Starmer promises to ‘take the brakes off Britain’ in first king’s speechGood morning. The last time we had a king’s/ queen’s speech after an election which saw one party voted out of office, and another take over, it was in 2010, when David Cameron was PM. You can read our liveblog of how it went here. The last time we had one under a Labour government was in 2009, when Gordon Brown was PM, and you can read about it here. The last time it was a Labour government presenting one for the first time was in 1997, which was so long ago that no one even knew what a liveblog was in those days.There will be more than 35 bills in the speech today but Keir Starmer wants to focus on planning and growth, and this is what he said in a statement released overnight.
Now is the time to take the brakes off Britain. For too long people have been held back, their paths determined by where they came from – not their talents and hard work.
I am determined to create wealth for people up and down the country. It is the only way our country can progress, and my government is focused on supporting that aspiration.
The phrase “take the brakes off Britain” implies a general commitment to promote growth. But it also implies relaxing planning rules, and this is what the government said in its overnight briefing on this topic.
Getting Britain to build more housing and infrastructure, including through planning reform, will also be central to the government’s plans to strengthen economic growth.
The bill will speed up and streamline the planning process to build more homes of all tenures and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects.
By enabling democratic engagement with how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built – the major brakes on the planning system will be addressed to support sustainable growth.
Here is Kiran Stacey’s preview story.Here is Archie Bland’s explanation of what is going on, in his First Edition newsletter.And here is the timetable for the day.11.25am: The Commons meets for the start of the state opening of parliament proceedings. They are summoned to the House of Lords where King Charles will deliver the king’s speech. When the speech is over, the government publishes a 100-page briefing document with details of all the proposed bills.1pm: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.2.30pm: The king’s speech debate starts in the Commons. After some brief, traditional ritual (included the introduction of the outlawries bill), the debate is opened by two government backbenchers chosen to propose and second the loyal address. This year it is Florence Eshalomi and Peter Dowd. Then Rishi Sunak speaks as leader of the opposition, followed by Keir Starmer as prime minister.If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.ShareUpdated at 11.26 CESTKey eventsAt least 10 members of Youth Demand arrested on suspicion of planning to disrupt state openingAt least 10 members of Youth Demand have been arrested in Westminster on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance after the protest group stated it planned to disrupt the state opening. This is from the Metropolitan police.There’s a significant policing presence in central London ahead of the State Opening of Parliament.Last week, Youth Demand said they planned to disrupt the event.An hour ago, officers arrested 10 of them in Westminster on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.A… pic.twitter.com/tHowsvNZni— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) July 17, 2024

There’s a significant policing presence in central London ahead of the State Opening of Parliament.
Last week, Youth Demand said they planned to disrupt the event.
An hour ago, officers arrested 10 of them in Westminster on suspicion of conspiracy to cause public nuisance.
A further 20 to 25 have now gathered in Victoria Embankment Gardens and further arrests are being made.
Youth Demand organised a protest at the Cenotaph on Monday about Gaza.ShareThe Crown Regalia – the Imperial State Crown, the Cap of Maintenance and the Sword of State – has left Buckingham Palace on their way to the House of Lords, PA Media reports. PA says:
The ancient symbols of royal authority are being ferried in a carriage, Queen Alexandra’s State Coach, drawn by four Bay Horses.
The Imperial State Crown – the famous symbol of the monarchy – is a working crown and worn by the monarch at State Openings of Parliament.
It contains 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, five rubies and more than 270 pearls and weighs more than a kilogram.
Among its jewels is the Black Prince’s Ruby – one of the late Queen’s favourite gems – as well as the Cullinan II diamond and a large oval sapphire known as the Stuart Sapphire.
Charles also wore the priceless crown on his return journey to the palace after his coronation, but he was crowned in the 17th century golden St Edward’s Crown.
The Imperial State Crown and The Sword of State, being taken in Queen Alexandra’s State Coach to the Houses of Parliament, ahead of the state opening. Photograph: Benjamin Cremel/AFP/Getty ImagesShareHere are some pictures from the preparations for the state opening.The King’s Bodyguard the Yeomen of the Guard taking part in a ceremonial search in the Prince’s Chamberr, ahead of the state opening Photograph: WPA/Getty ImagesThe King’s Bodyguard the Yeomen of the Guard Photograph: Alberto Pezzali/PALife Guards arriving at the Houses of Parliament. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/ReutersPeers taking their seats. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty ImagesA guard adjusting his helmet as he arrives. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/PALindsay Hoyle, the speaker, putting on his robes ahead of the state opening. Photograph: House of Commons/PAShareRishi Sunak will speak in the debate this afternoon, and it will be the first time he has given a political speech since the day he resigned. (He did speak in the Commons last week when Lindsay Hoyle was elected speaker, but that was lighthearted.) According to extracts released overnight, he will say the Conservatives will hold the government to account for delivering the change they promised. He will say:
In the national interest, we will serve as an effective opposition. We will not oppose for the sake of it, but when we disagree with what the government is doing, it is our responsibility as the opposition to say so.
What will guide us will be our principles: sound public finances, a belief that people know how to spend their own money better than governments do, that private enterprise – not state intervention — is the key to delivering growth and prosperity. Public services that work for those who need them, an education system that gives everyone the best start in life, secure borders, and a strong national defence.
The party opposite tapped into the public’s desire for change. But they must now deliver change: and we on this side of the house will hold them accountable for delivering on the commitments they made to the British people.
The Labour party promised no tax rises on working people and no plans for tax rises beyond what’s in their manifesto, in full knowledge of the public finances. They can’t now claim that things are worse than they thought and renege on these pledges. We will hold the government to its own promises.
The Financial Times’ political commentator Stephen Bush is not impressed. He posted these on X.
I’ve said it before, but one reason why having a long leadership election is a mistake is that Rishi Sunak visibly has no plan for the intervening period beyond repeating lines that didn’t work in the election in worse circumstances.

“I see that you rightly did not believe my dividing lines on tax on 4 July. Well, what if I repeated them while also telling you that, actually, it is good that we are releasing people from prison early?”
ShareSome new planning laws will be ‘controversial’, but government has mandate from election, says Pat McFaddenPat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister (chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster), was on the Today programme. He is now officially the fourth most important person in government (after Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves), and he defended the approach to planning being outlined in the speech. Here are the main points from his interviews.
We were very clear during the election campaign that we would come out of this on the side of getting things built more quickly.
That may be controversial in some places, I’ve no doubt that it will be.
But it’s reasonable for people to expect that, if we said that during the campaign, it’s what they see when the king’s speech is published later today.

It’s simply a myth to say that there are parts of what we call the green belt that haven’t been built on in recent years. And it’s been done in an uncontrolled way.
And we don’t want to sacrifice the beautiful parts of our countryside. But we do have to get things built in this country.

He said he accepted that some Labour MPs would object to new developments going ahead under the new rules. “You can have lots of fun in the next couple of years saying, here’s a Labour MP who doesn’t want this particular development. I know that will happen,” he told Times Radio. Asked if that amounted to hypocrisy, he replied:

I’m not predicting that everything we do is going to be opposed by MPs. But what I’m saying is in the real world, there’ll be some developments that some people don’t like, that’s always going to be the case.
Pat McFadden Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty ImagesShareIf you are interested in the history of the state opening of parliament, the House of Commons library has published a good 72-page briefing on the history of the ceremony by David Torrance.ShareHousing plans likely to meet opposition from Labour MPs, says governmentPlans for new housing are likely to meet local opposition from Labour MPs, the government has said, as Keir Starmer prepares to enforce mandatory targets within months. Jessica Elgot has the story.ShareKeir Starmer promises to ‘take the brakes off Britain’ in first king’s speechGood morning. The last time we had a king’s/ queen’s speech after an election which saw one party voted out of office, and another take over, it was in 2010, when David Cameron was PM. You can read our liveblog of how it went here. The last time we had one under a Labour government was in 2009, when Gordon Brown was PM, and you can read about it here. The last time it was a Labour government presenting one for the first time was in 1997, which was so long ago that no one even knew what a liveblog was in those days.There will be more than 35 bills in the speech today but Keir Starmer wants to focus on planning and growth, and this is what he said in a statement released overnight.
Now is the time to take the brakes off Britain. For too long people have been held back, their paths determined by where they came from – not their talents and hard work.
I am determined to create wealth for people up and down the country. It is the only way our country can progress, and my government is focused on supporting that aspiration.
The phrase “take the brakes off Britain” implies a general commitment to promote growth. But it also implies relaxing planning rules, and this is what the government said in its overnight briefing on this topic.
Getting Britain to build more housing and infrastructure, including through planning reform, will also be central to the government’s plans to strengthen economic growth.
The bill will speed up and streamline the planning process to build more homes of all tenures and accelerate the delivery of major infrastructure projects.
By enabling democratic engagement with how, not if, homes and infrastructure are built – the major brakes on the planning system will be addressed to support sustainable growth.
Here is Kiran Stacey’s preview story.Here is Archie Bland’s explanation of what is going on, in his First Edition newsletter.And here is the timetable for the day.11.25am: The Commons meets for the start of the state opening of parliament proceedings. They are summoned to the House of Lords where King Charles will deliver the king’s speech. When the speech is over, the government publishes a 100-page briefing document with details of all the proposed bills.1pm: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.2.30pm: The king’s speech debate starts in the Commons. After some brief, traditional ritual (included the introduction of the outlawries bill), the debate is opened by two government backbenchers chosen to propose and second the loyal address. This year it is Florence Eshalomi and Peter Dowd. Then Rishi Sunak speaks as leader of the opposition, followed by Keir Starmer as prime minister.If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line (BTL) or message me on X (Twitter). I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word. If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use X; I’ll see something addressed to @AndrewSparrow very quickly. I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos (no error is too small to correct). And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.ShareUpdated at 11.26 CEST