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Britain’s Johnson puts Brexit top of agenda as queen opens parliament
- The monarch formally opened parliament with plenty of traditional pomp and pageantry in a set-piece speech penned by PM Boris Johnson’s cabinet
- He hopes to use the comfortable majority he gained in this month’s general election to push through an EU exit deal by January 31
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday put the UK’s departure from the European Union at the top of the agenda, as Queen Elizabeth read out his plans for government in a parliamentary ceremony following a sweeping election win.
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The monarch formally opened parliament with plenty of traditional pomp and pageantry before ermine and red-robed members of the upper House of Lords, and MPs from the lower House of Commons.
But before the monarch’s set-piece speech, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon called for a new vote on independence, signalling a looming constitutional battle between London and Edinburgh.
Top of Johnson’s to-do list is a bill to ratify the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU, which he negotiated in October but could not get through a deadlocked parliament.
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Now with a comfortable majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, he hopes to push through the deal in time to fulfil his election campaign pledge to “Get Brexit Done” on the next EU deadline.
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