Queen outlines UK government agenda

Queen Elizabeth opened an unusual two-year session of the Parliament on Wednesday which will be dominated if not overwhelmed by groundwork for negotiations for the United Kingdom's planned exit from the European Union.

The queen delivered a speech that outlined a government program that bore little resemblance to the manifesto that Prime Minister Theresa May took to the country two weeks ago.

She told Parliament that the government's priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the EU and listed a series of domestic priorities.

The speech was much shorter and less detailed than normal, mostly because of the electorate's limited endorsement of the prime minister and her Conservative Party. It did not detail an estimated eight bills that will be required to ease the UK's departure from the EU.

May and her party failed to get a majority and need the cooperation of the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party if they are to govern. By the time of the queen's speech, there was no word of a deal and DUP members were telling reporters that they were astonished by the inefficiency of the May's office and insisting they would not be taken for granted.

Other reports suggested that the DUP was seeking an additional 2 billion pounds ($2.5 billion) in government spending in Northern Ireland in return for supporting the government.

The speech highlighted the fact that the government has two mountains to climb if it is to leave the EU in an orderly manner. Not only does it have to come to a complex deal with the 27 countries of the bloc, it also has to incorporate tens and thousands of items of legislation and regulation that emanated from the EU into to UK legislation. Failure to do this could leave British airliners grounded and British goods unable to be exported, among a host of catastrophic possibilities.

Position under threat

May also has to carry out a punishing legislative program without a majority and with her own position under threat. Senior ministers and their supporters, while publicly pledging support for May, are actively promoting new candidates for the job.

The queen was accompanied by her son Prince Charles as her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was taken to hospital as a precaution when a pre-existing infection worsened overnight.

The queen also said that the country would continue to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense and 0.7 percent on international aid.

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