Keir Starmer promises to ‘take the brakes off Britain’ in first king’s speech – UK politics live

Good 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 long briefing document with details of all the speeches.

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.

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