It is not quite true to suggest that the State Opening of Parliament is all style over substance. No doubt, there’s quite a lot of pomp and ceremony on display. Horse-drawn, gold-plated carriages, doors theatrically slammed in Black Rod’s face and ermine as far as the eye can bear.
But the Queen’s Speech is also an important Parliamentary marker. It provides the government of the day an opportunity to set out its legislative agenda for the upcoming session, putting meat on rhetorical bones.
