DUP MP Ian Paisley said it was "wonderful to see her majesty looking so well" and to have Parliament open.

He said he will "wait and see" what any devolution legislation says but welcomed a commitment to more bus building, which he said would benefit his North Antrim constituency.

There needs to be more connectivity across the UK, he said.

On the issue of prosecution of soldiers and police who served in the Troubles, Mr Paisley said they must be protected from "vexatious" claims.

He acknowledged the courts had moved towards doing this.

For those of you who like the finer details here are some interesting stats about the speech and how it compares to others:

• It lasted eight minutes and 52 seconds and took up 937 words, making it the shortest speech since 2016
• It was also below the average length (1,095 words) of Queen's Speeches during Elizabeth II's 69-year reign
• The longest speech to date was in November 1999 under Tony Blair's government ,when she had to read out 1,751 words
• That speech took 15 minutes to deliver
• The shortest speech came in 2009 under Gordon Brown
• That speech totalled just 735 words and took six-and-a-half minutes to make
• Today's speech was the 69th Queen's Speech of Elizabeth II's reign, and the 67th to be delivered by her in person.
• In 1959 and 1963, the Queen did not attend the State Opening of Parliament, when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward respectively.

The Health Secretary, Matt Hancock has been tweeting his reaction to the Queen's Speech.

He says he's delighted that plans to ban so-called gay conversion therapy will be brought forward.

Image source, Getty Images

In her speech, the Queen announced a ban on so-called conversion therapy, which major health bodies describe as attempts to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.

But the government has said there will be a “short” consultation before the ban is brought in.

This will consider religious freedom and protecting medical professionals, including therapists.

Some religious groups have welcomed the consultation process, saying it will help to safeguard prayer that someone has freely asked for.

But other groups are dismayed that a ban – which has been promised since 2018 – will not come in to effect immediately. They say it must cover all forms of the practice, in all settings.

Read the full story here.

Skills agenda vital after Covid crisispublished at 13:21 British Summer Time 11 May 2021

13:21 BST 11 May 2021

Sean Coughlan
BBC News, education correspondent

Long before “levelling up” ever appeared on a manifesto there have been years of complaints that further education and skills have been neglected.

It’s been the overlooked child that used to be called the “Cinderella” of education. And one that never quite got the invitation to the ball.

Money, status and increasing numbers of students had been directed towards universities, while vocational training was often unfairly seen as for runners-up in a competitive education system.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson is promising “rocket fuel” for vocational skills - and to re-balance the options away from university.

The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill promises more high-quality training to manufacture a pathway into well-paid jobs, with student finance available for vocational training.

A “lifetime skills guarantee” will recognise that people need to update their skills through their working lives.

Employers will be involved to link training to jobs, and the Department for Education is promising to intervene if the sometimes patchy quality of colleges needs to be improved.

It’s not going to be a quick job. There have been multiple attempts to boost vocational education and to revitalise training for adults and part-time learners.

And it’s up against a strong aspirational instinct for families to see universities as the way up the ladder - which might be why the Cabinet is stuffed full of graduates rather than those with BTecs.

But there are new political pressures for this to work.

This skills agenda is seen as having a strong appeal in the northern 'red wall' constituencies being courted by the government.

And with the urgent need to kick-start the economy from the long shadow of Covid, jobs, skills, training and then maybe different jobs, are going to be more of a vital issue than ever.

The SNP's Joanna Cherry says her political views do not stop her enjoying the pomp and pageantry of the day because the union of the crown is different from the union of the Parliament.

But speaking to the BBC she says she would like "to see some recognition from the Conservative government that Scotland has two governments".

She says the government has said "repeatedly" it wants to strengthen, and renew democracy across the UK, "the best way, would be to respect the outcome of the election we had in Scotland last week", she adds.

She says Boris Johnson should "come to the negotiating table" to discuss constitutional change.

"The pandemic is being dealt with, but the British government is getting on with other aspects of the constitutional during the pandemic, and they need to speak to Nicola Sturgeon and her new government about a second independence referendum."

Not much detail on how NHS waiting lists will be tackledpublished at 12:55 British Summer Time 11 May 2021

12:55 BST 11 May 2021

Hugh Pym
BBC News Health Editor

Image source, European Photopress Agency

The full government document on the measures announced in the Queen’s Speech refers to an NHS Catch-Up and Recovery Plan.

It acknowledges “an unprecedented challenge” as a result of the pandemic with over 380,000 patients in England waiting more than a year for non urgent treatment and operations. But there is not much detail on how this is going to be tackled.

There are reminders of extra funding already pledged to the NHS in England to deal with backlogs for routine surgery and procedures. Government sources say this is a major priority, though we will have to await the substance of the plan.

The Health and Care Bill referred to in the speech, external will cover already announced plans to boost integrated NHS and local authority run care across England.

There is no detail of the much anticipated social care shake-up in England beyond a commitment to bring forward proposals sometime this year.

Sceptics will point out that similar statements about reforming social care have been made on and off for several years now.

So to recap, the government has announced thirty bills that it plans to bring forward in this term of Parliament.

These are the ones the Queen mentioned in her speech:

• Health and Care Bill to ensure patients receive more tailored and preventative care, closer to home

• Advanced Research and Invention Agency Bill to establish an advanced research agency

• High Speed Rail Bill to transform connectivity by road and rail
• Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill to extend 5G mobile coverage and gigabit capable broadband
• Skills and Post-16 Education Bill to enable access to education and training for adults
• Subsidy Control Bill to support business
• National Insurance Contributions Bill to enable eight new Freeports
• Planning Bill, Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill to modernise the planning system
• Building Safety Bill to ensure tragedies of the past are not repeated
• Dormant Assets Bill, Charities Bill to support the voluntary sector
• Environment Bill to set binding targets
• Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, Kept Animals Bill, Animals Abroad Bill to support the highest standards
• Electoral Integrity Bill, Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill, Judicial Review Bill, Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill to ensure the integrity of elections
• Northern Ireland (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concerns) Bill, Legacy Legislation to strengthen devolution in Northern Ireland and deal with the legacy of the past
• Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill to increase sentences for violent offenders
• Draft Victims Bill to protect women and girls
• New Plan for Immigration Legislation to strengthen the UK's borders
• Draft Online Safety Bill to ensure online safety
• Armed Forces Bill to provide funding to the armed forces
• National Insurance Contributions Bill to provide NI relief to veterans
• Counter-State Threats Bill, Telecommunications (Security) Bill to counter hostile activity from foreign states

Baroness Jenny Jones from the Green Party says she's concerned about plans for a voter ID bill which she says tries to provide a solution to a problem that doesn't exist because "there is no fraud".

Speaking to the BBC earlier, she also criticises the return of the Police Bill which she thinks is an attempt to "keep the government in power for decades".

The government is clear that it wants "less and less opposition", she adds.

Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Liz Saville Roberts tells the BBC that it was moving to see the Queen at her first major engagement since the Duke of Edinburgh's death.

"Your heart cannot but go out to see a wife who has lost her husband and a son who lost his father," she says.

But she says the speech written by ministers was "bland and non-committal".

She says the PM promised to tackled social care "once and for all" but has not delivered the financing that devolved governments need.

And she said rather than "levelling up" the government is "centralising more than ever before".

Government yet to spell out what 'levelling up' meanspublished at 12:15 British Summer Time 11 May 2021

12:15 BST 11 May 2021

Adam Fleming
Chief political correspondent

One of the pleasures of the Queens Speech for journalists is hearing her Majesty reading out the political slogans of the government of the day.

So fifteen seconds in there was mention of the Prime Minister’s favourite: plans to “level up” the country.

The meaning of the phrase is gradually being refined but the agenda is still vast and encompasses jobs, schools, health, policing, industry, productivity, civic pride, the strength of local leadership and the quality of life.

But the real detail in this area will come later this year when the government publishes a White Paper where it will spell out much more detail about what levelling up means, and the “bold” action that ministers will take to achieve it.

For now, the government is trumpeting what it’s already doing: a £4.8bn fund for infrastructure projects, £830m for redeveloping High Streets, along with eight freeports and forty new hospitals in England.

And where there are such big promises, Labour stands ready to highlight pledges that go unmet.

"My Government will strengthen and renew democracy and the constitution. Legislation will be introduced to ensure the integrity of elections"

The Queen announced the Electoral Integrity Bill which proposes registered voters will need to take ID when you cast your vote in elections.

There are some opposition concerns that requiring ID to vote may suppress turnout. Apprenticeships Minister Gillian Keegan says identification is a routine requirement.

"If I go to collect a parcel at the Post Office now, I need to take my driving licence or my passport, pretty much everything I do I need to prove who I am," she says.

But she says it won't cost voters anything.

Liberal Democrat business spokeswoman Sarah Olney says proposals such as voter ID and ending fixed term Parliaments do not reflect "what I was hearing on the doorstep", despite Boris Johnson talking about the "people's priorities".

Labour's Thangam Debbonaire says voting is a right, not like collecting a parcel. She says it risks being discriminatory.

"If this is a way of introducing ID cards through a different route, I think the government should be honest about it," she says.

The Queen says the government will lead the global efforts to recover from the pandemic when it hosts the G7 summit.

She says it will "provide aid where it has the greatest impact on reducing poverty and alleviating human suffering", helping to get 40 million girls worldwide into education.

And she ends the speech with the words: "I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels."

The Queen says the government will "lead the way on internet safety for all, especially children, whilst harnessing the benefits of a free, open and secure internet."

There will be a new Draft Online Safety Bill.

This follows on from earlier comments in the speech about rolling out further Gigabit broadband to households across the country.

The Queen moves on to the environment saying ministers will invest in new green industries to create jobs.

She restates the UK's commitment to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and looks ahead to the COP26 Summit in Glasgow later this year.

Legislation will also be brought forward, she says, to ensure the UK has and promotes, the highest standards of animal welfare.

The Queen also says ministers will establish a new Building Safety Regulator to ensure “the tragedies of the past are never repeated” - reference to the Grenfell fire.

She says that the government will take measures “to address racial and ethnic disparities” as well as to ban conversion therapy.

And ministers will also bring forward legislation to reduce bureaucracy in the voluntary sector, “releasing additional funds for good causes”.

The Queen says the government will “ensure that the public finances are returned to a sustainable path once the economic recovery is secure”.

She says it will also “ensure that children have the best start in life” with a focus on early years. Ministers will address the lost time in education during the pandemic, she says.

The government will also help more people to own their own home while “enhancing the rights of those who rent”, the Queen says.

She says the planning system will be modernised to allow more homes to be built, along with measures to end the practice of ground rents for new leasehold buildings.

The Queen moves on to the government's plans to invest in and improve national infrastructure.

She announces that proposals will be taken forward to transform connectivity by rail and bus with the High Speed Rail Bill.

She says 5G mobile coverage and gigabit capable broadband will be extended.

She says legislation will be introduced to support a lifetime skills guarantee to enable people to access to high quality education and training throughout their lives.

There will be Subsidy Control Bill to support business and new legislation to simplify procurement in the public sector.

Eight new Freeports will be introduced to create hubs for trade and help regenerate communities.

She says her government's priority is to "deliver a recovery from the pandemic" which will "level up opportunities across all parts of the United Kingdom, supporting jobs, businesses and economic growth."

She says the government will provide additional funding to support the NHS, and her ministers will bring forward legislation to allow the NHS to "innovate and embrace technology". She says patients will receive more tailored and preventative care closer to home.

She says the government wants to work on mental health, obesity and cancer.

Proposals on social care reform "will be brought forward," she adds.

The government will work more on making the NHS work on preventative medicine, she states.