The PM and Labour leader Keir Starmer are debating the government's agenda
Prince Charles earlier delivered the Queen's Speech in Parliament, setting out the government's agenda for the coming year
He said the government's priority "is to grow and strengthen the economy and help ease the cost of living for families”
But Labour says Boris Johnson's administration is not up to the challenge as inflation soars and families struggle
In all, 38 bills and draft bills have been announced as Johnson seeks a reboot after disappointing local election results
Bills include measures to tackle empty high street premises and address the levelling up agenda
There are also proposals to remove EU laws and a public order bill to clamp down on disruptive protests
We’re ending our live coverage of the Queen’s Speech - thanks for joining us.
MPs are still debating the speech in the House of Commons. If you want to continue following the action, you can do so by watching BBC Parliament.
But for now, it’s goodbye from us in Westminster!
Image source, ReutersExtravagant pageantry, archaic rituals and feisty debate - Parliament has pulled out all the stops today for its formal opening, which is marked by the Queen’s Speech.
As we wind down our live coverage, let’s reflect on the main events of the day:
Royal procession: The day started with Prince Charles arriving at Parliament in a motorcade, as he stood in for the Queen, who pulled out with mobility problems. He entered the House of Lords with the Duchess of Cornwall and his son Prince William.
Prince’s speech: Inside the Lords, Prince Charles sat centre stage to deliver the Queen’s Speech (but not on the Queen’s throne, which had been removed). In his full regalia, Charles delivered a speech, setting out the legislative priorities of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government.
Agenda unveiled: In the speech, the government promised to tackle sharp rises in the cost of living by boosting the economy. The speech included proposals for laws including energy security, carbon emissions and post-Brexit economic arrangements. You can read our at-a-glance guide here.
MPs debate: When the Royals left, the politicians became the focus of attention in the House of Commons. They debated the Queen’s Speech, with Johnson, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, and other MPs having their say.
Time’s up: Sir Keir told MPs the government had to face up to the cost-of-living crisis and the challenge of a stagnating economy to "get Britain growing again". "We have a government whose time is passed, a cabinet out of ideas and out of energy, led by a prime minister who is entirely out of touch,” Starmer said.
Brexit benefits: In reply, Johnson defended his government’s plans, which he said would “unleash the benefits” of Brexit. He said he would “grow our way out of” the economic doldrums, “by creating hundreds of thousands of new high wage, high skilled jobs all across the country”.
What now?: It’s not over yet. MPs will debate the Queen’s Speech over the next few days before it is put to a vote. The speech is expected to pass unopposed, as is custom.
Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News
A national security bill has been long awaited but could still prove controversial.
Government first promised action after the 2018 Salisbury poisonings and then after the 2020 Russia report to deal with new threats posed by so-called hostile states.
An alert this year about Chinese interference in Parliament, as well as concerns about Russian influence following its invasion of Ukraine, heightened pressure for action.
This will include updating the Official Secrets Act legislation to cover a wider range of activity that the security services argue do harm to the country.
But one element which could be controversial is if there is no public interest defence for journalists and others when it comes to dealing with sensitive information.
Also consulted on were plans for those working on behalf of foreign states to register their activity.
This is designed to increase transparency but here, if part of a final bill, the controversy could be over how broadly it is focused and who might have to declare their work, for instance lawyers working for Russian oligarchs linked to the state.
Image source, UK ParliamentSir Ed Davey says
The leader of the Liberal Democrats says today's Queen's Speech should have focused on the cost of living, but "offered nothing".
Sir Ed Davey points to a hint made by Boris Johnson earlier that more support was in its way in the coming days, which has already been knocked down by the Treasury.
"People desperately need more help from the government," says Sir Ed, "but what have they received instead?
"Tax rises, broken election promises on pension rises, and wages rising far slower than inflation."
Image source, UK ParliamentTheresa May has warned her successor as PM, Boris Johnson, against taking new powers to tear up the part of the Brexit withdrawal deal relating to Northern Ireland.
The UK government has been trying to renegotiate this section of the deal for a long time and has been threatening to take unilateral action if the EU does not agree to wider changes.
It had been reported a bill would be included in the Queen's Speech to do this. In the end it wasn't - but it is understood a bill could still be introduced.
May says to take new powers in this area “would not be the right move for the government”.
She adds that the government needs to consider "the wider sense of what such a move would say about the UK and its willingness to abide by treaties it has signed".
Reality Check
Boris Johnson told MPs that one of the achievements of his government had been “creating a tax cut for 30 million workers”.
He is talking about the change in the Spring Statement, which means that from July, employees will be able to earn £12,570 before they start having to pay National Insurance, which is £2,690 more than they were previously able to earn.
That will indeed be a cut in National Insurance for most workers, but it is not the whole picture.
National Insurance went up in April by 1.25p in the pound. Also, the threshold at which workers start paying income tax has been frozen, which is effectively a big tax rise, especially at a time of high inflation. If that is taken into account then many fewer people have had a tax cut overall.
And we know from the government’s independent forecaster the Office for Budget Responsibility that the overall tax burden is going to rise from 33% of GDP (a measure of the size of the economy) in 2019-20 to 36.3% of GDP in 2026-27, which will be the highest since the late 1940s.
Hazel Shearing
Education correspondent
The government says it wants to raise standards not only in schools in England, but also in higher education.
Its most radical plan is its Lifelong Loan Entitlement, external, which would allow students at any stage of life to access loans worth the equivalent of four years of post-18 education (that's £37,000 in today's fees).
Other proposed changes, though, are exactly that - they're proposals, and have yet to be firmed up.
One is the introduction of minimum grade requirements for student loans - such as having English and maths GCSEs, or two A-levels at grade E.
The other is to limit the number of university places on some courses in England to "tackle uncontrolled growth of low-quality courses".
Both plans are subject to a consultation, so we'll have to watch this space.
Charities have warned that minimum grade requirements could hit poorer students hardest, while universities said limiting places would be "placing a cap on aspiration".
Jonathan Blake
BBC political correspondent
Housing announcements in the Queen's Speech have been broadly welcomed by those campaigning for change to the rental sector.
But many argue that banning no-fault evictions of private tenants and strengthening rights for those in social housing is long overdue.
Theresa May first proposed scrapping so-called "Section 21" evictions, where tenants can be evicted with 8 weeks' notice, in April 2019.
Boris Johnson then pledged to do the same in his general election manifesto later that year.
More than one fifth of renters did not end their last tenancy by choice the government's own figures show.
Campaigners argue too many families are "on the brink" of homelessness as the cost of living continues to rise.
Landlords' groups have welcomed moves to strengthen their ability to evict anti-social tenants and those in persistent rent arrears but argue broader reforms are needed.
Along with cautious optimism about the government's plans are warnings from across the housing sector that the detail will be crucial, and that time is of the essence.
Reality Check
In the the Queen’s Speech debate, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government was “building new hospitals... 48 of them in fact”.
The government has three definitions of what constitutes a "new" hospital:
An analysis by BBC Reality Check and the Nuffield Trust in December 2021, found that of 40 hospital projects announced by the government 22 are rebuilding projects, 12 will be new wings within existing hospitals, three involve rebuilding non-urgent care hospitals and three are entirely new hospitals. The 48 figure mentioned by Mr Johnson includes a “competition for 8 further hospitals including new Mental Health Hospitals”.
Nick Eardley
Political correspondent
It does not seem like the government is building up to another big announcement on the cost of living, despite Boris Johnson saying in his speech he would have "more to say" about it in the coming days.
No 10 insiders say the PM was referring to the wider work being done in departments to ease the cost of living.
Ministers held a special cabinet last week looking at ideas, which included relaxing rules on child care in nurseries and how often cars need an MOT.
A cabinet will be held outside London later this week, sources say it will focus on some of the cost of living issues.
But don't expect a major policy change soon.
Reality Check
Sir Keir Starmer and Boris Johnson clashed in the House of Commons over the growth of the UK economy.
The Labour leader said that the UK would be: “the slowest growing economy in the G7 next year”.
Boris Johnson said “we had the fastest economic growth in the G7 last year and will return to that status, by the way, by 2024.
The G7 is a club of major developed economies.
They’re both right and using IMF forecasts and comparisons, but they’re talking about different years.
It is correct to say we had the fastest growth last year, are forecast to have relatively slow growth next year and then relatively fast growth two years later.
If you look over a longer period, from before the pandemic to forecasts up to 2025, the UK is actually in the middle of the pack.
The SNP's Westminster leader Ian Blackford says there was a "gaping hole" in the speech on energy policy, and accuses the government of "fleecing" Scotland of its "green present and future".
He also accuses ministers of "refusing to match" Scottish government funding on renewable energy.
He also criticises the proposed Brexit Freedoms Bill - giving ministers new powers to change EU-era laws - as an "attack" on the power of devolved governments.
Will this much-trumpeted proposal ever happen?
Dominic Casciani
Legal Correspondent
The government’s long-delayed pledge to give victims of crime basic rights about how they will be treated at one of the most vulnerable points in their life has been delayed yet again.
Ministers have just consulted on law which would do really simple things: force the police and prosecutors to tell victims, who may be terrified of giving evidence, what is happening to their case, for a start,
But the Queen’s Speech only promises a “Draft Victims Bill” - Parliament-speak for an unfinished blueprint that needs working on, rather than something that’s oven-ready.
That means there’s no certainty at all that the proposed law - first promised eight years and three prime minister’s ago - will become reality in this Parliamentary session.
That’s at a time when the government is already defending record delays in the courts thanks to a combination of pandemic backlogs and preceding cuts to judges - delays that have seen many victims, as I have reported, losing faith in ever getting justice.
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford uses his speech to highlight the Tories' "drubbing" at last week's local elections, adding it shows this government is "on its last legs".
He contrasts this with the performance of his party, which he says shows people in Scotland demand "the choice of an independent future".
Like Labour, he criticises the "lack of immediate action" in the Queen's Speech to tackle rising living costs, which he calls "Tory-made".
Nick Eardley
Political correspondent
Opposition parties have been calling for measures like a windfall tax on energy companies to help with rising bills – and an emergency budget to address the cost of living.
Boris Johnson hinted at an announcement on the cost of living in the next few days.
But the Treasury has been making it clear that it doesn’t want to make concrete plans for support until it knows what the energy price cap will be.
An emergency budget is not going to happen, say my sources.
Nearing the end of his speech, Johnson says “we’ll get through the aftershocks of Covid just as we got through Covid”.
He says we’ll do so “not through irresponsible spending”, but by “urgently pressing on with our mission”, which is stimulating the economy.
He says that’s the long-term solution to address the rising cost of living and get our country back on track after the pandemic.
“That is what this Queen’s Speech delivers,” he says.
With that, his speech is finished.
Image source, UK ParliamentLabour's Sarah Owen calls on the PM to apologise
Earlier, there was an intervention from Labour's Sarah Owen - unusual when the PM is outlining the measures in the Queen's Speech.
She says: "What we haven't heard yet is an apology - an apology to the pensioners that are choosing between heating and eating, an apology to the children that have gone hungry throughout school holidays, and an apology to the hundreds of thousands of family members of Covid victims that were lost during the pandemic."
Johnson says the government is "doing all we can" to help people, including pensioners. And he says they have put in £9.2bn to help with heating, among other measures.
But, he adds: "Be in no doubt, I think this is what everyone in the country has to understand, what we are doing is making sure that we have a strong economy with high wage, high skilled jobs that will enable us to take our country forward."
The PM says he’s “taking forward this country’s energy strategy”, highlighting the new Energy Security Bill in the Queen’s Speech.
His comments are greeted by groans on the Labour benches, but Johnson says the party “didn’t want a single nuclear power station” when it was in government.
He calls Labour MPs “great quivering jellies of indecision” and promises “vast new green industries”.
Now turning to Brexit, he pledges to “unleash the benefits” of leaving the EU and make the UK the “best regulated country in the world”.
He said the government would use “our new freedoms to control our borders” and “fix our broken asylum system”.
The government will act with urgency to ease “the burdens on families and businesses across the land", Johnson says.
The rising cost of living - and the government’s plans to address it - featured prominently in the Queen’s Speech.
Johnson lists some ways in which the government has already helped households with living costs, including £9.1bn to assist with energy bills, and a council tax rebate worth £150.
But, he says, “however great our compassion and our ingenuity, we cannot simply spend our way out of this problem”.
He says we need to “grow our way out of it, by creating hundreds of thousands of new high wage, high skilled jobs all across the country”.
Now turning to the war in Ukraine, Johnson says he spoke to G7 counterparts and Ukraine’s president on Sunday.
He says he urged them to go further and faster in supporting Ukraine, and expressed sorrow at what had been happening in Mariupol, where alleged war crimes had been committed.
He says the UK should be proud that it has “led the way”, by providing weapons to Ukraine to defend itself against Russia.
“Let the message ring out in the chamber today: we will persevere in our in support of Ukraine,” he says.