It's not too long before the day's events kick off - and our State Opening TV special starts at 10:30 on BBC1, BBC News Channel and BBC Parliament (and will be on iPlayer later).

Approximate timings for the ceremony itself (all GMT) have been released by Parliament, external but these are subject to change:

• 11:15 - the Queen arrives at Sovereign's Entrance at the Houses of Parliament, after a procession from Buckingham Palace
• 11:30 - the monarch reads the Queen's Speech from the throne in the House of Lords
• 14:30 - the House of Commons thanks the Queen for the speech and then begins debating the government's legislative programme
• 15:30 - the House of Lords holds the same debate as the Commons (with a slight delay to allow it to be put back to normal after the Queen has left)

At the end of the debate - which normally lasts several days but is likely to be shorter this time around - there is a vote. It's normally seen as symbolic, as it is extremely rare for a government to lose it. In fact, the last time a government lost the vote was in 1924.

Victoria Derbyshire

Former journalist John Nicolson, the new SNP MP for Ochil & South Perthshire, says he takes "almost everything that Boris Johnson says with a giant pinch of salt".

He says he is "inclined to disbelieve Boris Johnson" and pushes the SNP's own "alternative Queen's Speech" which the party has published, outlining the agenda they would have set out.

Asked about the urgency of another referendum, Mr Nicolson says the "mood in Scotland" is that there should be another referendum "as soon as possible".

He says for people in Scotland who want to escape Brexit, "you now have a choice, either Boris Johnson's narrow inward-looking Brexit Britain or to be a small successful independent country like Denmark."

Pressed on whether that comment is misleading - since Brexit is very likely to happen next month - Mr Nicolson replies: "My view is that one of the most dishonest slogans of recent times was Get Brexit Done.

"Even if we do leave in January, the idea that we can conclude complex trade negotiations with 27 countries by December 2020 is nonsense."

Image source, GETTY IMAGES

The Queen's Speech gives the government a chance to highlight its priorities for the months ahead.

It forms part of the State Opening of Parliament ceremony, external, which marks the start of the parliamentary year.

The ceremony begins with a procession, in which the Queen travels from Buckingham Palace to Westminster - usually by carriage, but today she'll arrive by car instead.

During the speech, the Queen sets out the laws the government wants Parliament to approve. By convention, it is announced by the monarch in the presence of MPs, peers and other dignitaries in the House of Lords.

You may have other questions about the Queen's Speech, such as:

• What will be in it?
• Who writes it?
• Can anyone other than the Queen deliver it?
• Is there a vote on it?

Fear not - we've got all of the answers.

Nadia Whittome, the newly-elected Labour MP for Nottingham East, says her priority for her time in office is to help children in poverty in her constituency.

Ms Whittome has promised to donate half her salary to charity, saying she thought it was "important" that the people representing workers in Parliament are "on salaries that reflect workers' salaries".

Asked about criticism that the move is virtue-signalling and that being paid properly for being an MP was important, Ms Whittome says: "This isn't about devaluing the work of MPs.

"But if that money isn't good enough for a firefighter, a nurse, a teaching assistant to live on, then why should it be good enough for an MP?"

She says it's "not about making MPs feel uncomfortable" and the response she has had has been "overwhelmingly positive".

Part of the NHS funding to be set out in the Queen's Speech is a commitment to giving nursing students a £5,000-a-year grant.

It was put to the health secretary yesterday that it was the Tories who cut nurse bursaries in 2017 - but Matt Hancock insisted that what matters is that money going in now for more NHS staff, better buildings and improved technology.

Last night the prime minister and Mr Hancock hosted nurses at Downing Street to further boost publicity for the promise... here are some pictures of the event.

Image source, Number 10/Flickr

Image source, Number 10/Flickr

Image source, Number 10/Flickr

Image source, Number 10/Flickr

James Frith, former Labour MP for Bury North who was unseated by the Tories last week, yesterday wrote a letter, external setting a challenge to all the MPs who run for the party leadership.

"You should not expect to become leader of our blessed party without passing the Marginal Seat test.

"Patently, our leaders and policies are not forged in the white heat of a marginal seat. Yet this is what frames our electoral system and is the only gateway back to winning in the country.

"So I am inviting every leader and deputy leader candidate to Bury North to take a walkabout with me, do a public meeting and answer the concerns of everyday life in Britain, away from the protective, sound-proof majorities that so many of those confident in our victory before now, have returned to."

The BBC's assistant political editor Norman Smith suggests it's "not a bad idea".

Nicola Sturgeon has now finished answering questions following her speech in Edinburgh this morning.

The Scottish first minister outlined her case for a second independence referendum - saying another vote was now "unarguable".

And she called on the UK government to begin negotiations for the transfer of powers to bring about another referendum.

But Boris Johnson has previously said the 2014 poll - in which Scottish voters rejected independence - should be respected.

Read more here.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson outlines what went well for the PM at the election.

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon has published a document setting out her case for another independence referendum.

The 38-page document includes sections entitled "the EU referendum and the Scottish government’s mandate" and "the material change of circumstances".

In her introduction, Nicola Sturgeon says she wants a referendum by the end of 2020.

"Scotland is not a region questioning its place in a larger unitary state; we are a country in a voluntary union of nations," she writes.

"Our friends in the rest of the UK will always be our closest allies and neighbours but in line with the principle of self-determination, people in Scotland have the right to determine whether the time has come for a new, better relationship, in which we can thrive as a genuine partnership of equals."

You can see the document in full here., external

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is currently giving a speech outlining why there should be a second independence referendum for Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon is publishing a document morning that lays out a "detailed case" to support that belief.

The so-called indyref2 is now "unarguable", Ms Sturgeon says, following last week's election.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has argued the 2014 referendum - when voters backed remaining in the UK by 55% to 45% - should be respected.

Ms Sturgeon says she expects a "flat no of Tory Westminster opposition" on her Indyref2 request today - but "that's not the end of the matter, and Boris Johnson should not be under any illusion that it is".

Read more here.

Nick Triggle
Health Correspondent

The government has put the NHS front-and-centre of its Queen's Speech.

That is understandable – behind-the-scenes, ministers and advisers are saying that to keep hold of the voters that backed them at last week’s general election there has to be an improvement in NHS performance.

Waiting times for both A&E and hospital operations, such as knee and hip replacements, are at record worst levels.

But experts within the health service have warned even with the above-inflation sums going in, it will take years to turn the NHS around and get it back to where it was a decade ago.

Image source, PA Media

The Scottish National Party won an election landslide in Scotland, winning 48 seats after securing 45% of the vote.

And it has now published what it is calling its "alternative Queen's Speech".

It's a 12-point plan covering the party's main proposals, including the bills it would want to put forward to protect the NHS and increase the national minimum wage.

Top of the list is another independence referendum for Scotland, something leader Nicola Sturgeon has said she has a mandate for following her election win.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford MP said the party's hypothetical legislative programme is in contrast to today's Queen's Speech,.

"Last week, Scotland voted overwhelmingly to reject Boris Johnson and his extreme Tory government's devastating plans for Brexit and austerity," he said.

"Yet, Scotland now faces five more years of a hard-right Tory government we didn't elect, imposing damaging policies we do not want, which would rip Scotland out of the EU and take a wrecking ball to our NHS, living standards and the economy."

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Image source, PA

The joint interim leader of the Liberal Democrats says the Conservatives won last week's election victory because voters wanted to stop Jeremy Corbyn from being prime minister - rather than subscribing to Boris Johnson's plan to "get Brexit done".

Sir Ed Davey says: "People were voting for the Conservatives with a washing line of clothes pegs on their noses - because they were opting to stop Corbyn, rather than what they also wanted to stop, which was Brexit."

Sir Ed is in his acting role after former leader Jo Swinson lost her seat - and says he's "not ruling out" a bid to formally take over from her when a leadership contest begins.

He defends the party's decision to launch its election campaign on the basis that Ms Swinson could be the UK's next prime minister - pointing out that the Lib Dems' prospects were good until the Brexit Party decided to pull its candidates in Tory-held seats, paving the way for a stronger result for the Conservatives.

Sir Ed says the Lib Dems' plan now is to represent their voters and make the case that "Brexit is going to be bad for the country".

"I think there are millions of people out there who want a party to stand up for Britain being at the heart of Europe, and leading in Europe," he adds.

Ahead of the State Opening of Parliament later, here's a look at some of the top political headlines so far today:

• The government will put the NHS at the heart of the Queen's Speech later - with a boost to health service funding likely to receive top billing
• Brexit isn't far away though - with a law ensuring the UK leaves the EU by 31 January previewed by No 10 overnight
• Other measures will include a new immigration system and longer sentences for violent criminals
• The Speech itself will have less of the pomp and pageantry we've seen in previous years - due to the snap election
• Labour, meanwhile, says Boris Johnson's NHS pledge is a "gimmick" as focus in the party remains on who will replace its leader Jeremy Corbyn
• Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry has said Labour needs clear strategic thinking as it comes to terms with its crushing election defeat
• Elsewhere, Nicola Sturgeon will claim the case for a new Scottish independence referendum is now "unarguable" after last week's election

The Labour leadership candidate says she warned her party not to back an election that would be about Brexit.

The State Opening of Parliament, external begins later this morning. The Queen will leave Buckingham Palace and travel by car to the Houses of Parliament.

She is usually taken in a horse-drawn carriage, but today's event is a slightly stripped back affair, as was the case the last time a snap election was held in 2017.

At around 11.30 GMT, Her Majesty will read out the speech from the throne in the House of Lords.

It will be broadcast on a special BBC One programme, which begins at 10.30, or stay with our live coverage here.

Laura Kuenssberg
BBC political editor

This is Boris Johnson's Queen's Speech 2.0, and the circumstances couldn't be more different.

His first go was a government struggling to hold on. Now he's a prime minister with the plumpest cushion - an enormous majority.

That allows them to be enormously ambitious. They're a Tory government that's putting public services at the top of the agenda goes against political tradition. And also they're trying, audaciously, to reboot the Tory Party as representing everyone in every part of the country.

Today is, in my mind, the finale of the chapter of the story that the prime minister and his team have been trying to tell since the moment they moved into No 10 - that provocative campaigning style of a government that said Parliament was a problem and needed to be cleared out - and only Boris Johnson could properly represent people.

They've followed that strategy relentlessly since the end of July - they've taken bashes and blows but ultimately it's paid off.

Now they have this enormous majority to try to do all sorts of things.

Look out for some eyebrow raising announcements, today, too - things like making it harder for judicial reviews to take place. We'll be looking carefully for any details that might prove very controversial indeed.

Roads in and around Westminster are closed due to the Queen's arrival in Parliament for the State Opening of Parliament later.

Transport for London says the roads are closed until 18:00 GMT and buses are being diverted or ending their routes early.

Tory MP Tim Loughton tweets a video clip of the scene outside Parliament this morning, describing the quiet roads as "eerie".

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

Emily Thornberry's interview ends with her giving a final flourish on why she should replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour Party.

Presenter Nick Robinson asks her why the party should back her bid when she appears out of touch - he references the tabloid's name for her as Lady Nugee because she's married to High Court judge, Sir Christopher Nugee.

She says someone's background matters far less than their politics.

"What you need to do is to be able to be empathetic and listen to the public through the country.

“And as for this class issue, people who know me know that I come from a council estate. People who know me know I was brought up by a single parent on benefits.

"The fact of the matter is what makes me a good politician is that I have had a very mixed life, I have a large amount of life experience and I can empathise, because I have been there.”

BBC Radio 5 Live

Maddy Thimont-Jack, from the non-partisan think tank the Institute for Government, says the PM can afford to be very ambitious in today's Queen's Speech because of his big majority.

She expects the focus will be "largely on Brexit" and adds "what will be interesting is to see how much these bills will have changed" compared to the bills put forward under Theresa May.

These Brexit-related bills include a new Agriculture Bill and Fisheries Bill, containing the government's proposals for agriculture and fishing after Brexit.

"If we take the Withdrawal Agreement Bill to start with, the government has already said there are going to be some changes from the bill that we saw in October," she says.

"But also in terms of agriculture and fisheries: you know, these are whole new domestic policy areas and it's gonna be interesting to see whether Boris Johnson's government does actually largely keep the bills that Theresa May's government introduced, or whether the government has - with its big majority - new priorities in those areas."