The Queen has made her speech to the Commons, setting out government plans for the next two years, although Theresa May’s Conservatives have yet to form a majority government.

Early on Wednesday, it was announced that the Queen’s Speech would go ahead, although a Conservative deal with Northern Ireland’s DUP will not now be struck until Thursday at the earliest.

In parliament, the Queen said the government’s priority will be “To secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union.”

The monarch mentioned eight separate bills that will cement the UK’s legislature outside of the EU. These include the Repeal Bill, which will transpose EU law into UK law (there has been a huge amount of controversy around this bill, as EU directives won’t fit neatly into UK legislation, and without updates or oversight large elements of environment law could quickly become outdated or unenforcible).

Other Bills outlined by the Queen include:

• A customs bill and a trade bill to replace EU customs rules and allow the UK to impose its own tariffs after Brexit, and to establish sovereign trade policy.
• An immigration bill, the details of which are not yet known
• A fisheries bill, which will set fishing quotas and control fishing in UK waters
• An agriculture bill, which will set agricultural support for farmers and drive the direction of UK agriculture, although there has been no intimation of what either of these policies will look like after 2020

 
No new information has been made available on either the immigration bill, which is a fundamental worry for EU citizens living in Britain, and seasonal workers who spend some of their time here, or the agriculture bill, the continued lack of information on which farmers have said is hindering their plans for the future. Ahead of the election earlier this month, May’s party had come under fire from several sectors over their opaque and intransigent handling of Brexit.

Although Theresa May promised to learn from the General Election result, to “Respond with  humility  and  resolve  to  the  message  the  electorate  sent,” and to “consult and listen” on the Brexit process in her introduction to the Speech, the accompanying briefing notes to the speech only reiterate the Conservatives’ manifesto promise to “provide stability for farmers as we exit the EU,” offering nothing new to farmers as the negotiations on Britain’s future get underway. 

A number of key Tory manifesto pledges were also dropped from the speech, inluding plans for a free vote on fox hunting, which was championed by May herself, but which Conservative party chair Grant Shapps called "absolute insanity" due to the unpopularity of fox hunting both with the public and amongst even Conservative MPs.

Despite the lack of detail, the NFU said the announcement “Presents a once in a generation opportunity to enhance and promote British farming.”

NFU President Meurig Raymond said:,“This is a vital time to engage with the farming sector. Carving out a new future for the farming sector is a huge opportunity for the wealth and wellbeing of the nation. We can further our substantial economic, social and environmental contribution and, with that, strengthen the nation’s ability to feed itself and the world.

“Working closely with the new Secretary of State for Defra and his ministerial team will be essential, and this is already off to a good start. But we’ll also need the support of the whole Parliament if British farming is to have a profitable future in a post-Brexit world.

“The Repeal Bill will be a long and complex process to lift EU law in UK law.  As this work goes on we will be maintaining our core asks of Government to ensure British farming has the right legislative framework in place to support a productive, profitable and progressive food and farming sector.”