"My government will propose parliamentary and political reform to restore trust in democratic institutions and rebalance the relationship between the citizen and the state," the queen announced.
Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth's speech on the policies of her new government puts to rest many pending issue especially those pertaining to the sluggish economy and the freedom of movement by EU member countries.
Her Majesty has stressed that priority will be given to recovering the economy, education, the police force, welfare services and most importantly a new restriction on migration of EU citizens, an annual limitation has been imposed. I must say that this is most certainly the right move ahead for Britain as She suffers in dire need for reform.
(BBC) - Major plans to reform schools, police, welfare and Britain's political system are at the heart of the coalition government's first Queen's Speech.
But the Queen said cutting the budget deficit and restoring growth would be the new government's "first priority".
The 22 Bills set out in detail what Prime Minister David Cameron hopes to achieve over the next 18 months.
The programme reflects compromises reached by the Conservatives and Lib Dems when they agreed to share power.
Unveiling the proposals in the House of Lords, amid the traditional pomp and pageantry, the Queen said: "My government's legislative programme will be based upon the principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility.
"The first priority is to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth."
It is the 56th time that the Queen has opened a new session of Parliament during her reign - and the first time in 14 years that she has outlined a Conservative-led programme for government, albeit one that has been drawn up in partnership with the Liberal Democrats following their coalition agreement.
Schools reform
It comes a day after the government revealed the details of plans to cut £6.2bn in spending this year.
There were few surprises in the 22 Bills and one draft Bill, which had been widely leaked to newspapers.
Flagship measures include scrapping ID cards and the next generation of biometric passports and a Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill - regulating the retention of DNA and the use of CCTV cameras among other measures.
The Queen's Speech includes a bill to extend Labour's academy school programme in England and make it easier for parents and other groups to set up "free schools" outside of state control.
A second bill in the autumn will give schools in England greater freedom over the curriculum, give teachers greater powers to deal with bad behaviour and give head teachers more freedom over how their schools are run. It will also establish a "pupil premium", one of the Lib Dems' flagship policies, to improve schooling for children from the most deprived backgrounds.
BBC deputy political editor James Landale said there had been "a certain amount of confusion" about the new government's flagship education policy ahead of the Queen's Speech, because ministers had yet to work out how much primary legislation was needed.
A Welfare Reform Bill is promised to simplify the benefits system, and the state pension age could be increased to 66 sooner than the present 2024 timetable as part of measures to pay for restoring the link between state pensions and earnings.
There will also be a bill to strengthen financial regulation.
Equal pay
There is also a potentially controversial bill to part-privatise the Royal Mail and legislation to allow elected police chiefs in England and Wales and create a dedicated border force as part of a "refocused" Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
The sale of alcohol below cost price would also be banned under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, and councils and police would be given greater powers to close down trouble-making clubs and bars. The Bill would not apply in Scotland.
There are also proposals to place an annual limit on non-EU immigration, which does not need primary legislation, and plans to "remove barriers to flexible working and promote equal pay".
"My government will seek to build a strong and fair society by reforming public services and encouraging individual social responsibility," said the Queen, as she outlined this part of the government's programme.
There are also pledges to slash the number of quangos and cut bureaucracy to save £1bn a year.
One of the most complex and controversial bills covers parliamentary reform, a subject on which all parties agree action is needed after last year's expenses scandal.
As well as giving the public the right to throw out corrupt MPs between elections, it will legislate for a referendum on changing how MPs are elected from the current first-past-the-post system to the Alternative Vote method.
Debate
This was a central Liberal Democrat demand in their negotiations on forming a government.
Plans for fixed-term five-year Parliaments - including a controversial clause requiring 55% of MPs to vote to back the dissolution of Parliament - have also been announced.
But House of Lords reform has been sidelined to a committee reporting back by the end of the year.
Other plans include the restoration of the link between the state pension and earnings and a referendum on any treaty proposing more powers for the EU.
The packed programme for government reflects the fact that this Queen's Speech programme will run until autumn 2011, rather than the usual 12 months, because of the general election.
Mr Cameron will now begin several days of debate in the Commons over the plans.
Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman will respond for the opposition in what will be their first clash across the despatch box.
Former foreign secretary and Labour leadership contender David Miliband said the Queen's Speech had a "severe absence of any detail".
But he said Monday's announcements by Chancellor George Osborne were more significant as they included cuts to the number of university places and the Future Jobs Fund for the young unemployed.
He told BBC Radio 4's World this contradicted the assurances given by David Cameron during the election campaign that he was only concerned with "cutting waste" - and was the "big lie" at the heart of the government's programme.
He also attacked plans to change the way MPs can vote for a dissolution of parliament and said there was a "big hole on European policy" under the new government.
Public sector union Unison has warned the plans would undermine vital public services by opening them up to greater private sector involvement.
General secretary Dave Prentis said: "The plans set out in this dismal Queen's Speech spell danger for public services, and for economic growth and offer little hope to either the young or long-term jobless."
Angus Robertson for the Scottish National Party told the BBC there was much in the speech the SNP would welcome - like a pledge to implement the Calman Commission recommendations on Scottish devolution and the scrapping of ID cards. But he said: "As ever - the government health warning - we have to wait for the details."
Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd welcomed plans for a referendum on more law making powers for the Welsh Assembly and said it should be brought in without further delay.
Caroline Lucas, the first Green MP at Westminster, dismissed the Queen's Speech as a "pack of half-hearted measures".
The Queen's Speech will be followed on Wednesday by the first Prime Minister's Questions of the new parliamentary session and by the government's emergency budget on 22 June. Watch CNN's Video Report On Queen's Speech at The Grand Opening Of Parliament;
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/25/britain.queen.speech/index.html?hpt=Sbin
But the Queen said cutting the budget deficit and restoring growth would be the new government's "first priority".
The 22 Bills set out in detail what Prime Minister David Cameron hopes to achieve over the next 18 months.
The programme reflects compromises reached by the Conservatives and Lib Dems when they agreed to share power.
Unveiling the proposals in the House of Lords, amid the traditional pomp and pageantry, the Queen said: "My government's legislative programme will be based upon the principles of freedom, fairness and responsibility.
"The first priority is to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth."
It is the 56th time that the Queen has opened a new session of Parliament during her reign - and the first time in 14 years that she has outlined a Conservative-led programme for government, albeit one that has been drawn up in partnership with the Liberal Democrats following their coalition agreement.
Schools reform
It comes a day after the government revealed the details of plans to cut £6.2bn in spending this year.
There were few surprises in the 22 Bills and one draft Bill, which had been widely leaked to newspapers.
Flagship measures include scrapping ID cards and the next generation of biometric passports and a Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill - regulating the retention of DNA and the use of CCTV cameras among other measures.
The Queen's Speech includes a bill to extend Labour's academy school programme in England and make it easier for parents and other groups to set up "free schools" outside of state control.
A second bill in the autumn will give schools in England greater freedom over the curriculum, give teachers greater powers to deal with bad behaviour and give head teachers more freedom over how their schools are run. It will also establish a "pupil premium", one of the Lib Dems' flagship policies, to improve schooling for children from the most deprived backgrounds.
BBC deputy political editor James Landale said there had been "a certain amount of confusion" about the new government's flagship education policy ahead of the Queen's Speech, because ministers had yet to work out how much primary legislation was needed.
A Welfare Reform Bill is promised to simplify the benefits system, and the state pension age could be increased to 66 sooner than the present 2024 timetable as part of measures to pay for restoring the link between state pensions and earnings.
There will also be a bill to strengthen financial regulation.
Equal pay
There is also a potentially controversial bill to part-privatise the Royal Mail and legislation to allow elected police chiefs in England and Wales and create a dedicated border force as part of a "refocused" Serious and Organised Crime Agency.
The sale of alcohol below cost price would also be banned under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill, and councils and police would be given greater powers to close down trouble-making clubs and bars. The Bill would not apply in Scotland.
There are also proposals to place an annual limit on non-EU immigration, which does not need primary legislation, and plans to "remove barriers to flexible working and promote equal pay".
"My government will seek to build a strong and fair society by reforming public services and encouraging individual social responsibility," said the Queen, as she outlined this part of the government's programme.
There are also pledges to slash the number of quangos and cut bureaucracy to save £1bn a year.
One of the most complex and controversial bills covers parliamentary reform, a subject on which all parties agree action is needed after last year's expenses scandal.
As well as giving the public the right to throw out corrupt MPs between elections, it will legislate for a referendum on changing how MPs are elected from the current first-past-the-post system to the Alternative Vote method.
Debate
This was a central Liberal Democrat demand in their negotiations on forming a government.
Plans for fixed-term five-year Parliaments - including a controversial clause requiring 55% of MPs to vote to back the dissolution of Parliament - have also been announced.
But House of Lords reform has been sidelined to a committee reporting back by the end of the year.
Other plans include the restoration of the link between the state pension and earnings and a referendum on any treaty proposing more powers for the EU.
The packed programme for government reflects the fact that this Queen's Speech programme will run until autumn 2011, rather than the usual 12 months, because of the general election.
Mr Cameron will now begin several days of debate in the Commons over the plans.
Acting Labour leader Harriet Harman will respond for the opposition in what will be their first clash across the despatch box.
Former foreign secretary and Labour leadership contender David Miliband said the Queen's Speech had a "severe absence of any detail".
But he said Monday's announcements by Chancellor George Osborne were more significant as they included cuts to the number of university places and the Future Jobs Fund for the young unemployed.
He told BBC Radio 4's World this contradicted the assurances given by David Cameron during the election campaign that he was only concerned with "cutting waste" - and was the "big lie" at the heart of the government's programme.
He also attacked plans to change the way MPs can vote for a dissolution of parliament and said there was a "big hole on European policy" under the new government.
Public sector union Unison has warned the plans would undermine vital public services by opening them up to greater private sector involvement.
General secretary Dave Prentis said: "The plans set out in this dismal Queen's Speech spell danger for public services, and for economic growth and offer little hope to either the young or long-term jobless."
Angus Robertson for the Scottish National Party told the BBC there was much in the speech the SNP would welcome - like a pledge to implement the Calman Commission recommendations on Scottish devolution and the scrapping of ID cards. But he said: "As ever - the government health warning - we have to wait for the details."
Plaid Cymru's Westminster leader Elfyn Llwyd welcomed plans for a referendum on more law making powers for the Welsh Assembly and said it should be brought in without further delay.
Caroline Lucas, the first Green MP at Westminster, dismissed the Queen's Speech as a "pack of half-hearted measures".
The Queen's Speech will be followed on Wednesday by the first Prime Minister's Questions of the new parliamentary session and by the government's emergency budget on 22 June. Watch CNN's Video Report On Queen's Speech at The Grand Opening Of Parliament;
