The Queen’s Speech had been expected to be quite a ruckus this year, with the prospect of a hung parliament and party leaders wrangling for power. However, the General Election on the 7th May, to the surprise of most pollsters, saw a majority Conservative government elected with 331 MPs to the Labour Party’s 232 MPs. This was indeed a result that astounded many and saw three party leaders resign within hours of each other; Ed Miliband MP, Nick Clegg MP and Nigel Farage (temporarily at least). For a moment after the result of the General Election it became a political game of musical chairs; who’s in and who’s out.

However, the serious business of politics returned to the House this morning, with the State Opening of Parliament by the Queen, who revealed the legislation that the Conservative government, who have not written a Queen’s Speech as a majority government for nearly two decades, will be pursuing in the coming session. There was lots of speculation prior to the Queen arriving in the House of Lords that more stringent controls on immigration, welfare cuts and the EU referendum would appear in the speech, which they did. 

However, concessions seem to have been made in regards to the Human Rights Act that was rumoured to be up for the axe. In regards to this, it’s worth noting that although the Conservative party has a majority, it is a slim one of just 12 seats. David Cameron will be aware that the tougher pieces of legislation announced today will require the support of his backbenchers.

The document below offers an analysis of the Queen’s Speech and what impact it will have over the coming months. Please get in touch if you would like to know what these changes could mean for you. You can also follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Download our Queen’s Speech 2015 analysis