Reuters
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth stands ahead of her speech next to Prince Charles in the House of Lord’s Chamber during the State Opening of Parliament in London, Britain on Tuesday.
Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday made her first public appearance since the funeral of her late husband, Prince Philip, to open a new session of parliament and present her newly victorious government’s post-pandemic legislative agenda.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is riding high after the Conservatives’ triumph in last week’s local and regional elections in England, but faces new questions over the UK’s cohesion after pro-independence forces emerged on top in Scotland.
Johnson says his government, after overseeing a successful inoculation campaign against COVID-19, is intent on reopening the economy and “determined that we look forward and get on with fulfilling the promises we have made to the British people.”
Those promises center on a “leveling up” agenda to bring economic opportunity to left-behind parts of the country, as Johnson exploits his vaccine-boosted popularity to make further inroads into opposition Labour party strongholds.
“Not only will we address the legacies of the pandemic, we will go further to unite and level up the country, fight crime and create opportunities up and down the country for businesses and families to build brighter futures,” he said.
The queen’s public speech set out the British government’s plans for the year ahead, including completion of an environment bill to set legally binding emissions targets, as Britain prepares to host the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow in November.
Normally an annual event replete with five centuries of tradition and pageantry, the monarch’s state opening of parliament has been shorn back because of the pandemic.
Only a select few from the upper chamber House of Lords and lower House of Commons were allowed to attend needed to have tested negative for COVID-19.
The queen, 95, was attended by her 72-year-old son and heir, Prince Charles, as she returned to public duties.
（Agencies)