What is the Queen’s speech and why has it been delayed?
The Queen’s Speech at the State Opening of Parliament is an important annual event, with the Monarch using the date to announce the Government’s legislative plans for the year ahead.
This year’s Queen’s speech was set for Monday 19th June, but after the unexpected General Election results emerged last Friday, it has had to be pushed back.
Despite being called to strengthen Tory power to gain mandate over Brexit, the Election resulted in a hung parliament, with Theresa May still in talks with the DUP to form a minority government, and there are rumours of another election in October.
Queen Elizabeth II's speech is traditionally written by the Prime Minister and colleagues, but due to the confusion over the minority rule and no finalised outcome as of yet, the speech is having to be pushed back.
It seems obvious really. It makes sense to work out the Government’s legislative agenda for the coming year before officially announcing it.
While theoretically there is still time to come to a decision and create an official speech before Monday, the issue is in fact preparing the actual hard document.
The Queen’s speech is traditionally written on goatskin paper, and due to the fact that ink takes days to dry on it, the speech must be written days in advance. Therefore, due to a combination of shock election results and goatskin paper, we will have to wait a bit longer to hear the Queen’s speech.
We did tell you it was a strange reason.
