Transcripts For BBCNEWS State Opening Of Parliament 20170621

In london and manchester. This is a momentous week in the history of the uk, talks are under way to take britain out of the European Union, and this queens speech is therefore expected to set out a legislative programme not for one year but the two years to come. Earlier this morning, this is what happened in Downing Street when the Prime Minister left for parliament. First and last queens speech, Prime Minister . That was mrs may with her husband philip on the way to the houses of parliament. She has had to spend considerable time trying to negotiate a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland in recent days to support this queens speech, and as i speak, there is still no deal in place. But that was part of the reason of course for the delay in arranging this State Opening today. Labours Jeremy Corbyn will also be in parliament today, facing the Prime Minister once again across the dispatch box. That is when the debate gets under way, and he will be looking to amend the speech in line with labours commitment to end austerity and boost public spending. We will see more of mrs may, mr corbyn and the other Party Leaders later on, and we will be talking to some of the newest mps as they settle in, those elected just a few weeks ago. But as usual on the day of the State Opening, the ceremonial events started rather early on. Take a look at this. Here we have the yeoman of the guard, the oldest British Military course still in existence, founded by henry tudor, the battle of bonds bosworth, they were performing their ceremonial search of the sellers, making their way through the chamber of the House Of Lords and then down to the sellers were guy fawkes was discovered back in 1605. So when we talk about the queens speech today and the State Opening that is slightly less formal than usual, there are still very big elements of the formal ceremonial taking place. And everything ready at the sovereigns entrance at the southern end of the palace of westminster where the queen will be arriving within the hour, but there will be no Grand Carriage Procession this year, it will be a much more understated affair. If it can be understated, that is, when you look at the Magnificent Space of the House Of Lords, the masterpiece completed back in 1860, hundreds of peers already in place in the chamber. And no wonder, it is the main ceremonial event in the parliamentary calendar, so the competition of the set is intense, and norman lamont, former chancellor, already in place. 800 peers in all, this is one of the biggest parliamentary chambers in the world. And the speech will be delivered from the throne of the House Of Lords. We will be back in a moment to spot who else has bagged the set for this great occasion, but asi the set for this great occasion, but as i say, in terms of style and possibly in terms of tone, it will be rather different to previous yea rs. With me in our studio facing the palace of westminster, representing the biggest parties in the House Of Commons, we will be joined shortly by Brandon Lewis of the conservatives, we already have Yvette Cooper for labour and Joanna Cherry for the Scottish National party. And as ever, laura kuenssberg, our political editor, is with us to give personalities as we go through the day. Watching the yeomen process through, these traditions are unchanging for centuries, the irony in such a time of volatility and uncertainty is profound today. We will see much of the usual pomp and ceremony, slimmed down, but right now, theresa may, who is expecting her own political coronation today, is a fundamentally weakened leader, all the conversations inside the tory party are turbulent underneath the surface about how long she can stay in power, so we will see today in the queens speech and exact demonstration of how she has been reduced, because her ambitious plans to change the country in big, bold ways have had to be scaled back, and at the centrepiece of the speech the mind bendingly complicated issue of how we go about our departure from the European Union. And overshadowing it all, and i will come to our guest in a moment, the fa ct come to our guest in a moment, the fact that of course we are talking about a Minority Government potentially depending on the dup for support, but that deal still not having been nailed down. They will have to depend on the dup for support. Whether or not this actual deal ever gets done. We had but expecting some days ago, and i understand that the revised queens speech was agreed between the two sides days ago, but there is still an element of haggling over the details, there has been frustration on both sides, and also in a government that has been in such turmoil, there is frankly a capacity issue. One source on the dup side said a lot of this is about the fact that number 10 just doesnt work at the moment, so the physical logistics of getting this done when there have also been all of those other challenges, all of those things going on, the Grenfell Tower as you mentioned in your introduction, this is a weakened government that is being stretched like a piece of elastic to breaking point, and they have not in that context been able to close this deal with the dup. Whether or not there isa with the dup. Whether or not there is a formal deal done, and i still suspect that it will be, because the incentive is there on both sides, the dup will still need to give the government their support on big important votes. Dont forget among all the speculation about this important deal, the dup has informally basically been doing this for the government in the last couple of years anyway, just behind the scenes, and in that period, quite frankly it suited both sides to keep that on the quiet. Laura, thank you. Yvette, what are you looking for today . We need to see a different approach from the government. They cannot simply carry oii government. They cannot simply carry on as if the election didnt happen, and that has been the real concern. Other people have made the point that theresa may warned about a coalition of chaos, we have now got the chaos without even the coalition some of the comments from the dup yesterday were damning when they said the government didnt even seem they said the government didnt even seem to be capable of negotiating with them in order to get very basic confidence and supply deals. Ade confidence and supply deals. Ade confidence and supply deals. Ade confidence and supply deal is simply an agreement not to vote against the government in a no confidence motion and to make sure some of the basic funding goes through for the National Health service and so on. It is pretty minimal . It is very minimal, so if the government isnt capable of doing that, that is worrying for the brexit negotiations. I do think they should change their approach, do a Cross Party Commission or a different approach because otherwise we wont get something sustainable and in the interests of the country. Thank you. Joanna, your take on today . I would like to see an acknowledgement from theresa may that she doesnt have a mandate now for a hard brexit, that she doesnt have a mandate now fora hard brexit, norany that she doesnt have a mandate now for a hard brexit, nor any mandate to continue with the austerities agenda which was always a Political Choice rather than an necessity, so i would like to see a softening of tone on brexit and a recognition that the Scottish Government brought at the end of last year a blueprint for a soft brexit where we could stay in the single market, the whole of the uk. We need to stop the whole of the uk. We need to stop the whole of the uk going over the cliff edge that the tories were so intent on taking us off before the election, so taking us off before the election, soi taking us off before the election, so i would like to see theresa may and the tories look seriously at the proposals put forward by the devolved administrations in scotland and wales and guarantee a seat for those devolved nations at the negotiating table. I also want to hear from the tories what this deal from the dup is about. The dup have a worrying record on some aspects of human rights, womens rights and lg bt human rights, womens rights and lgbt rights, and i want to know that human rights will be respected in this deal, and i want to know crucially that the Power Sharing Being restored in stormont is not going to be threatened by dup being seen to be protected by the westminster parliament. And we will get the conservative viewpoint as well when Brandon Lewis arrives later. Because of the unexpected election, the very busy calendar of major state events at this time of year, there has been less time for the key participants, especially the armed forces, to prepare for this, so it will be a scaled down event. Her majesty will arrive by car, and when the procession takes place inside parliament, the queen will not be wearing the usual crown or parliamentary robes. This has happened before, but you need to go back 43 years. And that was in march 1974 after the Snap Election called by the conservative edward heath when he lost his majority. Does that sound vaguely familiar . Said the queen travel by car in 1974, and during the ceremony did not wear the Imperial State Crown. We will see that replicated today. There hasnt been State Opening like this in nearly half a century. Lets quickly get our bearings in the palace of westminster ahead of the queens arrival. Lets explain the geography so that you know what is going on. Behind us here on the green the great behind us here on the green the reat soverei ns behind us here on the green the great sovereigns entrance at the base of the victoria tower, this is where the parliamentary archives is held, dominates the landscape for quite a distance around and alumni about that. As all cavalry will be inside, and they will be lining the royal, and when the queen arrives, she will go into the robing room. The Gentlemen At Arms theyre getting ready for the sovereigns arrival. The Imperial State Crown will have been placed in the robing room directly ahead of us ready for the ceremony to take place. What happens next . The queen will begin the formal procession to leave the robing room and go into this Magnificent Space, the royal gallery, one of the biggest Royal Spacesin gallery, one of the biggest royal spaces in the palace of westminster, and today it is full of diplomatic and today it is full of diplomatic and military guests. They are all keen to see the procession, although asi keen to see the procession, although as i say, it will be rather different are the ones we have seen in the past few decades, but it will still be a pretty grand sight. And then through to the small prince s chamber, full of the portraits of tudor monarchs, dominated by this Great White Marble Statue of queen victoria. And from the chamber, we go into the House Of Lords itself. And that is where the signal will be given by the queen to summon members of the House Of Commons to come along and listen to the speech, and they will be there to listen very intently to what is going on. After which of course the queen will depart and lots of debate will begin. There we have the Archbishop Of Canterbury and the archbishop of york taking their places today. Also sitting rather patiently waiting for the event is to begin, we saw him a little early in Downing Street, is philip nade, little early in Downing Street, is philip made, the Prime Ministers husband, but already now the House Of Lords packed with hundreds of peers, lots of them waiting for the speech to be delivered. I should say that when the speech is delivered, it probably wont take more than seven or eight minutes, but of course the content is all important, how many bills and draft bills will be listed, there may well be more than 20 of them, but we will have to wait and see when it is formally published, and we will talk a little more about what happens when the queen arrives and how the commons are summoned. Thats come back to the studio from moment, because the Home Office Minister Brandon Lewis hasjoined us. You had is worried for a moment security is pretty strong. That is understandable. What are you looking forward to today . The queens speech sets out a programme for the parliament and the governments business, but it is also a reminder of the great constitution and the way we do things here in britain and a chance as he her majesty, which is always a good thing for everybody. A speech dominated by the Brexit Challenge . There is no doubt that over the next couple of years, the key thing is getting brexit legislation through parliament to prepare ourselves for two years down the line as we leave the European Union and what flows from that, and that will take as potential amount of time. We will talk to more in a second, thank you. It isa talk to more in a second, thank you. It is a very short distance from the lords to the commons, through the heart of the palace of westminster, this is the central lobby, another magnificent site, great work of art, but i want tojoin magnificent site, great work of art, but i want to join vicky young who is there for us. This is a great Vantage Point to see some of the iconic moments of the day. We start with the speakers procession that will come through here and that cry of hats off, strangers. Black rod will make his way from the House Of Lords down to the House Of Commons to invite mps to go through here. Tradition dictates that the Big Wooden Door is slammed in his face, an important symbol of the independence of the House Of Commons. We are here because of that snap general election, and the result delivered, a much more diverse House Of Commons, more women mps, more gay mps and more representatives from the ethnic minorities. There are also a few mps who didnt expect to be here at all, and we have been catching up with two of them as they have got to know this palace of westminster. My name is david linden, i my name is david linden, lam my name is david linden, i am the new memberof my name is david linden, i am the new Member Of Parliament for glasgow this first is 7 77 ile walking. Ile walking toj ile walking to the palace ile \ whiclg to thl a alace nf westmlfizfer which uzzflfl . Nf westmifizfer which izzflfl . Its ef weztmifiefer whiefi izzflfl . Its myjob, igneed to get on with it. I7need to get on with it. Im so i need to get on with it. Im leila moran, the newly elected mp boxit east and bedlington. This