On Thursday, December 19, the Queen’s second speech was held in Westminster in two months: this is how British policy, shaken by Brexit, goes. Queen Elizabeth II presented Boris Johnson's government program – the speech was written on Downing Street, she just read it, as tradition dictates.
The previous speech was made at the end of October, but at the time its significance was symbolic. Boris Johnson had no majority in the House of Commons, so his multiple reform plans had no chance of succeeding. The game has obviously changed with the historic victory of his conservative camp on December 12: what was announced on Thursday will be very likely to succeed, the Prime Minister now having a five-year term and a majority comfortable to carry out its policy.
"The priority of my government is to complete Brexit by January 31, 2020", started the Queen, not surprisingly, this promise having been at the heart of the Prime Minister's campaign ("Get Brexit done!"). Dressed in a simple water green set, without her heavy ermine train (the protocol having been lightened, probably to avoid too much fatigue), the 93-year-old sovereign then proceeded in a monochord voice a program of '' about forty legislations, all aiming at the double objective: to carry out – finally – Brexit. And make the most of the divorce from the European Union (EU) while limiting, through transitional measures (in agriculture, in particular), its potentially negative effects on the national economy.
Treaty of Withdrawal before the House of Commons
The Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB), which enshrines the EU withdrawal treaty in British law, will therefore be proposed for ratification in the House of Commons on Friday 20 December. For a first reading and perhaps a first vote. Its final adoption should not, however, take place before the second week of January 2020: even if Wesminster is now mainly pro-Brexit, the text requires a detailed examination in committee.
The signal is clear: the moorings
must have been released as soon as possible
Note that this will include guaranteed protection for European, Swiss and European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland, etc.) citizens already settled in the United Kingdom before the end of the transition period (the end of 2020). They can keep their right to stay in the country. Furthermore, this bill unilaterally restricts the transition period, intended to negotiate the "future relationship", economic and geopolitical, between the United Kingdom and the EU. The Europeans have agreed that it can be extended until the end of 2022, but Boris Johnson wants to end it by the end of 2020. Again, the signal is clear: the moorings must have been released as soon as possible.
