Here's an afternoon summary.
• David Cameron has said that Lords reform will only happen if all the main parties work together and take a reponsible attitude towards the issue. Given that Labour is refusing to back reform unless there is a referendum and insisting that the Lords should be 100% elected (whereas Nick Clegg thinks it has to be 80% to have the best chance of getting through parliament), Cameron's words will reinforce suspicions that reform will never happen. This is what Cameron said in the debate on the Queen's speech.
At the last election, all political parties put forward in their manifestos proposals for a partly or mainly elected House of Lords. But let me say this: this is only going to proceed if the political parties will agree to work together and take a responsible attitude towards this reform. I think it is possible, it would be a good reform if we can achieve it, it would be better if we had a smaller House of Lords and it had an elected element in it. So I would ask people to work together across party lines to try and make that happen.
• Ed Miliband has labelled David Cameron as a "David Brent" figure who is ignoring the electorate's demand for policies that promote growth. In his speech in the Queen's speech debate, Miliband said that Cameron was only interested in protecting the few, such as his friends at News International, not the many.
[The govenrment] do have a communication problem. The electorate have spoken, and they're not listening.
But to solve his communication problem, the prime minister's got a new way of explaining his policy. To the police man or woman being fired, to the young people looking for work, to the small businesses going under - What was his message yesterday? "You call it austerity, I call it efficiency."
So here it is from the prime minister, Cameron Direct, to the hundreds of thousands of people being made redundant: The bad news is: you've lost your job. The good news is: you're a key part of our efficiency drive.
In two years, this prime minister has gone from David Cameron to David Brent.
• The police have admitted that the the extent of hacking into Milly Dowler's phone may never be known. As David Leigh reports, their report to the Leveson inquiry followed an investigation lasting five months into the hacking of the murdered teenager's phone. "It is not possible to state with any certainty whether Milly's voicemails were or were not deleted" says the report, which was written by Detective Chief Inspector John Macdonald from the Metropolitan police's Operation Weeting, which is investigating phone hacking. He said two voicemail messages appeared to have been removed at the time, but because the full technical call data was missing, "reaching a definitive conclusion is not, and may never be possible".
• Abu Qatada has lost his attempt to make a final appeal to the European Court of Human Rights against his deportation from the UK. Responding to the news, Theresa May, the home secretary, said:
I am pleased by the European court's decision. The Qatada case will now go through the British courts. I am confident the assurances we have from Jordan mean we can put Qatada on a plane and get him out of Britain.
• Martin Clarke, the editor of the Mail Online, has told the Leveson inquiry that the internet has given British journalists the chance to compete in a global market. You can read our live blog of his evidence here.
That's it for today. Thanks for the comments.
Cameron has finished now. I'll post a summary shortly.
Cameron is still speaking.
Britain needs to become more competitive, he says.
The government is dealing with the deficit. Labour would not deal with debt.
The government is backing hard-working people. Labour refuses to make work pay.
This is a Queen's speech to rebuild Britain, he says.
Labour turns to the crime measures in the bill.
Britain needs a National Crime Agency, he says. It will be a "British FBI".
Labour's Steve Rotheram asks if Cameron regrets not releasing the NHS risk register.
Cameron says this government is the most transparent for 50 years.
Cameron is listing some of the other measures in the Queen's speech. The bank bill is particularly important, he says. Ed Balls did nothing to regulate the City when he was in charge of it.
Labour don't support the benefit cap, he says.
There are also measures to speed up adoption, he says. It will become illegal to turn down an adoptive family on the basis of race.
Labour's Wayne David asks why there is no lobbying bill in the Queen's speech.
Cameron says the government has published plans for a register of lobbyists. It will legislate in due course. Labour had 13 years do to something about this, he says.
David Cameron turns to Labour's plans.
He says Harriet Harman was asked the cost of Labour's plans. She said she did not know the answer, but that Ed Balls had a figure. But, when Balls was asked at the weekend, he said he had not finished costing his plans.
Labour say they can fund their plans for the tax on bankers' bonuses. But Alistair Darling said it would not work. And Labour have spend it 10 times.
The bank tax is the tax that likes to say yes, from the fronbench that can't say no, he says.
Labour's Jack Straw asks about Lords reform. He says trying to get agreement between the parties will not be possible.
Cameron says he is not in favour of a referendum. It's a measure that has been used by some unsavour regimes, he says.
Labour's Barry Sheerman asks why there was nothing in the speech to promote jobs.
Cameron says the work programme has already been introduced.
David Cameron turns to domestic policy. He rattles through some of the government's plans.
Labour do not have a costed, credible alternative, he says.
The Queen's speech is a speech for "the do-ers, the strivers, those who work hard and play by the rules", he says.
The public sector pensions bill will save billions of pounds, while also ensuring that public sector workers continue to get good pensions.
Two years ago Britain's interest rates were the same as Spain's. Today Spain's are higher than 6%, while Britain's are lower than 2%.
Jesse Norman, a Conserative, asks about Lords reform. Does Cameron accept no consensus has been reached? And will he support a referendum?
Cameron says that Lords reform is not his main priority. But it is possible for parliament to do more than one thing at a time.
Lords reform will only happen if the parties work together, he says.
(He has said something similar before, but this was even firmer. I'll post the quote later. It makes it hard to believe that Lords reform will even happen.)
David Cameron turns to foreign affairs.
Denis MacShane says Cameron endorsed Sarkozy, and he lost. Will he endorse Mitt Romney and ensure Barack Obama wins?
Cameron says he might endorse MacShane. But it would take a lot of modernisation for the Conservatives to win Rotherham, he says.
Cameron is turning to the plan to extend internet surveillance. Imagine what would have happened if the government had not decided to extend surveillance to mobile phones when they were invented, he says.
Cameron says the government may press for more sanctions against Iran.
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, says climate change is also a threat to national security. Why are there no green measures in the Queen's speech?
Cameron says the Green Investment Bank will allocate £3bn for green projects.
As long as the people of the Falkland Islands want to stay British, they will stay British, he says.
David Cameron is speaking now.
Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters
He says the last session of parliament was the longest for more than 100 years.
He mentions some of the goverment's achievements over the last two years, starting with getting down the deficit. And he mentions the amount spend on overseas aid.
Turning to the two MPs who opened the debate, he says that when the chief whip called about it, he got a shock. He thought the chief whip had said: "I've asked Nadine to do it."
He says Zahawi embodies the British dream.
At times Zahawi's name has caused problems. Zahawi was sitting next to Lord Hurd at a dinner recently. Hurd asked him what he did. Zahawi told him he was an MP. Hurd asked him which constituency in Iraq he represented.
Turning to Malcolm Bruce, he says Bruce served as Charles Kennedy's best man. Then he stood against him in a leadership contest. But it could be worse, he says. "They could have been brothers."
Miliband says executive pay was not mentioned in the Queen's speech.
Cameron should introduced performance-related pay for the cabinet, he says. The Tories should embrace the "shareholder Spring". And Cameron should invite Nadine Dorries to monitor their performance.
Louise Mensch, a Conservative, intervenes. Can Ed Miliband say if he has costed Labour's programme? (Ed Balls said recently that he had not finished costing his plans.)
Miliband says Mensch said before the local elections that Labour needed to get more than 700 seats to be doing well. (In fact, Labour won 824 seats.)
Miliband criticised Cameron for not having a social care bill in the Queen's speech.
He asks why Lords reform is in the Queen's speech, if Cameron and Nick Clegg are both saying it is not a priority.
And he turns to phone hacking. Cameron has at last asked for core participant status in the Leveson inquiry. He must be the only person who did not think he was a core participant. Miliband mentions today's revelations in the Times. (See 9.38am.) He says Cameron hired the editor. "He even rode the horse," he says.
This shows that Cameron stands up for the wrong people, Miliband says.
Ed Miliband is still speaking.
He turns to the Queen's speech. Labour will support a Green Investment Bank, the defamation bill and flexible parental leave. Those sound like Labour ideas, because they are Labour ideas.
Miliband says the government says that they lost the local elections because people did not undestand their plans. But the government parties lost because people understood their plans all too well.
Talking about the elections, someone mentions London. Miliband is ready for that. He quotes what Boris Johnson said at his victory party.
We survived the rain, the BBC, the Budget - and the endorsement of David Cameron.
The Tories walked into that one, he says.
He says it was not the presentation that was wrong with the abolition of the 50p top rate of tax. It was the policy.
And yesterday David Cameron said that he preferred to think of austerity measures as efficiency measures. So, that's the message to people who have lost their job, Miliband says: You may be out of work, but you are part of our efficiency drive.
Miliband says it all. In two years, the prime minister has gone from David Cameron to David Brent.
(That's his best line so far. It has echoes of Vince Cable's "from Stalin to Mr Bean" comment about Gordon Brown.)
Ed Miliband is speaking now.
Photograph: Anthony Devlin/PA
He starts with a tribute to three servicemen killed in Afghanistan since the Commons last met.
And he pays tribute to MPs who died in the last session of parliament, Alan Keen and David Cairns.
Miliband says this debate is supposed to be opened by a rising star. Nadhim Zahawi was a very good choice. He is the first MP to have been born in Iraqi Kurdistan. Zahawi said that, to his family, the UK represented freedom and opportunity and that these were not just words.
Turning to Malcolm Bruce, he says someone in his office got excited when they turned up an internet article saying Bruce played with Ozzy Osbourne. But it was a different Malcolm Bruce.
Bruce is president of the Scottish Lib Dems. That means he will have to take part in the inquiry into how the Lib Dems were beaten by a penguin in Edinburgh.
A good speech from Nadhim Zahawi, but rather a poor one from Malcolm Bruce.
Malcolm Bruce, the Lib Dem MP, goes next.
In a rebuke to Zahawi, he says his authority in the Commons is boosted by being elected.
Bruce says he represents Gordon, in Scotland. Aberdeen airport is in his constituency. He did not support last year's North Sea oil tax. But measures in this year's budget have restored confidence.
Food producers in his constituency will welcome the bill creating a groceries adjudicator.
People often ask where Gordon is, he says. (That gets a laugh, because someone mentions Gordon Brown.)
Alex Salmond has said he won't wear a kilt in Scotland has been achieved, Bruce says. That's a good argument against independence. Scotland should be protected from the sight of Salmond in a kilt, he says.
The government is in power at a difficult time, he says.
The democratisation of the Lords should not put off, he says.
As chairman of the international development committee, he says he regrets the fact that a bill enshrining the 0.7% target in law is not in the Queen's speech.
Ed Miliband is about to make his first reply to the Queen's speech, he says. Bruce says he knows from experience that it easier to oppose. But he came into politics to make a difference.
Nadhim Zahawi, a Conservative, is opening the debate.
The Queen gave a peerless speech, he says. And peerlessness was on his mind when he was summoned to see the chief whip last week. (Zahawi had spoken out against Lords reform.) He says, after his meeting with the chief whip, a consenus has been reached. He reminds MPs that people opening this debate are usually people with a career behind them.
This will not be his most watched speech, he says. He can boast thousands of downloads on YouTube. It was for an appearance that involved a loud tie, he says.
Peter Lilley opened the debate last year. He said that the name Lilley went back centuries. But, Zahawi says, the same cannot be said about his surname.
Zahawi says he represents Stratford-upon-Avon. It is not a kaleidoscope town, he tells John Bercow. (That goes down well with MPs, who recognise that he's gently mocking Bercow's "kaleidoscope Queen" speech.
Zahawi says his family arrived in Britain with just £50. But he has been able to become an MP. The task of the goverment is to extend opportunity further.
In Greece extremists are leaving the mainstream, he says. But in the UK extremists are joining the mainstream. Only yesterday Vince Cable joined those calling for the EU to cut regulation. (That's a reference to this article in the Daily Telegraph.)
Zahawi says China is creating an economy the size of Greece every three months.
He turns to culture. Shakespeare is his most famous constituent, he says. "Give your thoughts no tongue," Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet. That's valuable advice for anyone using Twitter.
The Chinese premier visited Stratford and handled a Shakespeare first edition. That shows how powerful is Britain's cultural reach, he says.
Like any good entrepreneur, Shakespeare invested in his business. He benefited from a grammar school education. He was a natural Tory, Zahawi says.
John Bercow, the Speaker, starts the proceedings with a statement about the importance of proper conduct and parliamentary privilege.
MPs should behave with civility and probity, he says.
The Queen's speech debate is about to start. Traditionally two backbenchers are chosen to open it: a rising star and an elder statesman. Nadhim Zahawi, the Tory MP, is the rising star, and the Lib Dem MP Malcolm Bruce is the elder statesman.
Here's a lunchtime summary.
• The Queen has opened parliament by delivering the speech that will set out the government's programme for the next 12 months. In the second line of her speech, she said that the government's priority was to "reduce the deficit and restore economic stablity", although that does not suggest optimism, because last time the priority was "to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth". Labour MPs said there should be more in the Queen's speech to promote growth. Some of the measures (as usual) were uncontentious, but there will be fierce battles over the plans to extend internet surveillance and allow intelligence evidence to be heard in court in secret. But the bill that will generate most controversy is the bill to reform the Lords. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been insisting that it is not a priority, but it has been dominating today's news coverage and threatens to clogg up the Commons timetable in the coming months. As Patrick Wintour reports, there are severe doubts about whether it will ever make the statute book.
The Queen delivers her speech in the House of Lords. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP
Here is more detail about the measures in the Queen's speech.
• Reform of the libel laws
• A draft social care bill giving the elderly more choice
• Allowing cameras to film in court
• More flexible working, and other measures to help families
There is more on our Queen's speech page.
Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
The Queen said the government wanted to "improve the lives of children and families". (See 11.37am.) Yvette Cooper (pictured), the shadow home secretary and shadow minister for women and equalities, isn't convinced.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg are still making life harder not easier for families across the country, and the Queen's speech doesn't change that.
The government cannot claim to be family friendly when it is cutting child care support, cutting tax credits for part time working parents, and taking more from children than the banks. Over 30,000 women have left work in the last year because they can't afford child care and are struggling to make work pay.
Labour introduced flexible parental leave to make it easier for parents to balance work and family life. Improving adoption is also important.
But working families are feeling really pressed as a result of the government's own decisions.
I was looking for tweets from colleagues while the Queen was speaking, but (for once) Twitter was quite quiet. I've just found out from reading some Press Association copy that journalists in the press gallery in the Lords were told not to tweet. "The Queen wouldn't approve," said the doorkeeper.
And here's some reaction to the defamation bill.
From the Libel Reform Campaign
The bill will open the way to ending libel tourism and protecting free expression for journalists, writers, bloggers and scientists around the world. However, there is still work to be done and we will carry on campaigning to make sure that the detail in the final Bill will truly deliver reform.
From Tracey Brown, managing director of Sense About Science
We and thousands of others have campaigned to stop the libel laws' bullying and chilling effects on discussions about health, scientific research, consumer safety, history and human rights.
We are really pleased to see the government has moved closer to honouring its promise of a fairer law and protection of free speech in today's Queen's speech. This opens the way to developing a law guided by public interest not powerful interests.
From Simon Singh, the science writer
The reform promised in the Queen's speech today is a welcome response to the intolerable effects of the current laws.
From Jo Glanville, editor of Index on Censorship
We have now have a chance for libel legislation that's fit for the 21st century. The end of the single publication rule and greater protection for internet service providers will help to put an end to the chilling effect online.
And here's some reaction to one bill not in the Queen's speech - the promised bill committing the government to spending 0.7% of national income on international development.
From Melanie Ward, head of public affairs at development charity ActionAid
It is extremely disappointing that their promise to enshrine the 0.7% commitment in law did not appear in the Queen's speech. This is a promise from the coalition agreement and which was in the manifesto of each of the main parties. We expect the coalition Government to keep its promises.
Legislation matters because aid needs to be around long enough to do the job. Many countries, such as Ghana, are now moving towards an end to dependency on aid but this can only happen if we support them until that point. Legislation would provide the certainty that is needed for aid to be most effective.
Here's more from my colleague Jill Treanor on how measures in the Queen's speech will affect executive pay.
While there was not a specific reference to handing shareholders more powers in the Queens speech, there will be a bill that will make it possible for shareholders of UK quoted companies to have a binding vote on directors pay. Clauses will be included in the enterprise and regulation bill which was mentioned. Those clauses will provide more detail on how binding shareholder votes will work in practice and make amendments to the current Companies Act which requires quoted companies to put a directors' remuneration report to an advisory shareholder vote, rather than a binding one.
Here's some more business reaction to the Queen's speech.
From John Cridland, director general of the CBI
The test for this Queen's speech is whether it will help businesses to grow. Two Bills stand out for me: energy and regulatory reform. The first should help, but the jury's out on the second ...
We hear a lot about regulatory reform, but the big prize for businesses would be to major on the new power for 'sunset clauses' on regulation and regulators. Every new bit of regulation should be time-limited and then reviewed.
It is employment regulation where the shoe pinches for growing firms. We await the Government's bold reforms in this area.
From Simon Walker, director general of the Institute of Directors
The Government is right to place deficit reduction and economic stability at the forefront of their programme. However, we need to see them pursued enthusiastically in practice, not just in principle. To restore business confidence, which is the real key to growth, there must be drastic measures to cut costly regulation and continue to tackle the deficit. Tweaking the edges of the system will not be enough – it's not the number of bills that matters, it's what is in them that really counts.
Here's our summary of the main bills in the Queen's speech.
And here's our Data Blog analysis looking at the main themes of the speech.
Here's some reaction to the plans for Lords reform.
From Peter Facey, director of the Unlock Democracy pressure group
We welcome the commitment to introducing a bill to change the composition of the House of Lords in the Queen's speech. We call upon the government to introduce this bill as quickly as possible. After 100 years of delay and with other laws competing for parliament's attention, it is crucial that they just get on with it.Those peers threatening to derail the entire parliamentary programme in a bid to protecting their own privileged position need bring the Upper House into disrepute and demonstrate the need for reform. The government should not waste its time trying to accomodate them; they should simply get on with the process of eliminating them, invoking the Parliament Act if need be.
From Lord Ashdown, the former Lib Dem leader
The government would look ridiculous if it promised the roar of a lion but brings forth the squeak of a mouse. I am informed that their intention is clear and firm: to bring forward a Bill proposing democratic elections to the House of Lords.
From Tory MP Jesse Norman
There is clearly a case for reform of the House of Lords but absolutely no consensus at all on the issue of election.
Here's some reaction to the draft care and support bill.
From Sir Merrick Cockell, chairman of the Local Government Association
The announcement of a draft bill in the Queen's speech is a positive step towards addressing the very real crisis we are facing in providing care to our rapidly aging population.
Councils across the political spectrum are united in now calling on government to work with us to truly undertake radical reform by adopting a cap on the amount of risk individuals will be exposed to when planning for their care costs, introducing integrated health and social care commissioning to ensure a better quality of care, and addressing the shortfall in funding.
We understand that reform is not an easy problem to solve and we know that reform comes with a price tag. But we believe it's a price worth paying. Along with our partners, we will shortly be setting out the local government offer to central government on how councils can play their part and make Dilnot's proposals manageable.
From Dot Gibson, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention
Everyone agrees that the current social care system is bust, but no-one seems prepared to do anything about it.
Over the last 14 years we have had 20 separate reports and investigations into the problems that people face, such as the postcode lottery of charges, poor standards of care, rationing of services and inadequate support for carers - and now we will have yet another draft bill that will further delay any decision being made.
In the meantime, up to one million older people are without the care they need and around one million more are being treated unfairly by a social care system that shifts the responsibility and cost on to the individual rather than society as a whole.
From Sue Brown, head of public policy at the deafblind charity Sense
We are disappointed that the government has not delivered on its promises around adult social care. The white paper is incredibly overdue and a draft bill is not enough – We had hoped for a firm commitment to take a bill through Parliament because older and disabled people need reform not more delays.
The government has procrastinated too long - the sooner we address the social care crisis the less it will cost society in the long term. So along with the 85 other organisations who wrote to the prime minister yesterday, we are calling on the government to make social care a top priority so that older and disabled people can do more than just survive because the social care system is in disarray.
From Simon Parker, director of the New Local Government Network, a local government thinktank
The country is storing up a crisis in the social care system. This is the single biggest cost that local authorities face and demand is rising rapidly. If the government cannot find a way to contain the costs of elderly care, the short term impact will be to suck money out of critical local services such as roads, street cleaning and community support. In the long term, there is a clear risk of bankrupting local government finances. This issue cannot wait: we need a cross-party consensus as soon as possible.
Here's some reaction to the law and order measures in the Queen's speech.
The draft communications data bill, extending internet surveillance
From Nick Pickles, director of the civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch
The Home Office have been very good at saying what the problem is, but seem intent on keeping the technical details of what they are proposing secret. Is it any wonder that the public are scared by a proposal for online surveillance not seen in any other Western democracy?
If someone is suspected of plotting an attack the powers already exist to tap their phone, read their email and follow them on the street. Instead of scaremongering, the Home Office should come forward and engage with the debate about how we improve public safety, rather than pursue a policy that will indiscriminately spy on everyone online while the real threats are driven underground and escape surveillance.
From the pressure group Liberty
Ministers have revived plans for a Snoopers' Charter which would see the collection and storage of "communications data" – the records of e-mail, text, phone calls and web browsing – for the entire population. A similar scheme was shelved by the Labour Government in 2009 following a fierce backlash and its fresh inclusion in the Queen's speech represents a u-turn on the Coalition's May 2010 promise to "end the storage of internet and e-mail records without good reason". Liberty today launches its No Snoopers' Charter campaign against the proposals.
The justice and security bill, allowing intelligence evidence to be heard in court in secret
From Clare Algar, executive director of the the pressure group Reprieve
The proposals for secret justice would massively skew courts in favour of ministers, and prevent the public from finding out the truth about serious wrongdoing. The reality is that these plans are designed to spare the intelligence agencies embarrassment. They are a recipe for unfair and unaccountable government.
From the pressure group Liberty
The proposed Justice and Security Bill would see secretive Closed Material Procedures extended to all civil proceedings. This dangerous and unnecessary move would not only overturn centuries of Common Law fair trial protections – it would undermine the vital constitutional principle that no-one, including the Government, is above the law. Liberty recently launched its For Their Eyes Only campaign in response and will continue lobbying against these plans.
Here is some reaction to the bill cutting public sector pensions. (See 12.00pm.)
From Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services union
Confirmation that the government intends to plough on with unpopular, unnecessary and unfair cuts to public sector pensions is disappointing but not unexpected. Ministers have consistently refused to negotiate with us over the key issues of forcing public servants to pay more and work longer for less in retirement, and that is why hundreds of thousands of them will be on strike tomorrow.
From Bob Crow, the RMT general secretary
We will be sending the clearest message to the government that we will defend our pensions to the hilt and the demand that our members should work longer, pay more and get less will be thrown back in the faces of this government of millionaire public schoolboys.
The hammering the ConDems took in the polls last week should serve as a wake-up call from working men and women that we will not roll over and take the hit. It's the bankers and the bosses who have gambled with our country's future and the men and women who provide the lifeline services to the Royal Navy fleet should not have to tolerate a worse pension and be forced to work longer to make up for their mistakes.
Here is some reaction to the plan for a supermarket regulator. Friends of the Earth welcomed the news that there would be a groceries code adjudicator bill. This is from Andy Atkins, the FoE executive director.
Supermarkets have been abusing their power for far too long by limiting customer choice and squeezing the life out of farmers by paying them too little.
The government must now act quickly - a strong watchdog is needed to loosen the supermarket stranglehold and give us all a fairer and less damaging food system.
And this is from Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party.
The grocery code adjudicator bill, an idea first suggested by Plaid Cymru back in 2004, will benefit the thousands of people working within the agricultural sector, but it's vital that this ombudsman has real teeth, including powers over the milk industry, in order to deliver positive change.
Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
Here's Brendan Barber (pictured), the TUC general secretary, on the Queen's speech.
We needed a programme for growth, instead we have an incoherent hotchpotch that will do little or nothing to deal with our fundamental economic problems or create jobs. The main obstacle remains the government's mistaken policies of austerity that have sent the economy back into reverse.
Even those proposals that go in the right direction have too often been watered down so we have a green investment bank that is not a real bank and executive pay curbs that lack teeth.
What is worst is that ministers are wrapping up a real attack on rights at work as good for growth and employment. Those who opposed the minimum wage and rights for paid holidays are using the recession as a cover to introduce policies that they know have little support and that will be seen as nasty by most. There is no actual evidence that making work insecure does anything for the economy – easy fire will not lead to new hires.
And here's my colleague Alan Travis on the crime measures in the Queen's speech.
The bill to track everyone's email, facebook, text and internet use has proved to be one of the most controversial within the coalition and has been slow-streamed in the government's legislative timetable after last minute coalition talks.
The measure, which has been criticised by civil liberty campaigners as a 'snooper's charter', has been taken out of a more general Home Office and Ministry of Justice-sponsored crime and courts bill which ministers need to get onto the statute book as fast as possible.
The decision to have a stand-alone bill follows Nick Clegg's insistence that it must be accompanied by the "strongest possible safeguards". They are expected to include oversight on a case by case basis by a surveillance commissioner, a review of existing measures to protect the security of everyone's data that is to be stored, and the publication of a privacy impact statement.
Clegg has also promised that the internet tracking proposal will not be "rammed through Parliament" but instead open parliamentary hearings will be held to examine draft clauses of the legislation. The proposal has also attracted sharp criticism from the Tory libertarian right with the former shadow home secretary, David Davis, calling it an "unnecessary extension of the ability of the state to snoop on ordinary people."
The measure is expected to require internet service providers to retain and store for 12 months the 25% of "traffic data" - who sent an email to whom from where and at what time - that they currently do not keep for their own commercial billing purposes. Overseas based internet companies, including gmail and hotmail, are currently excluded from the legal requirement to keep billing data for 12 months.
Security and police chiefs say that such communications data has played a significant role in every major security service counter-terrorist investigation in the past decade. But the rapidly changing nature of internet use means that they can no longer track communications between terrorist or criminal suspects.
The monitoring data will only be available to the police and security services in "real time" in cases involving active terrorist plots, and hostage or kidnapping situations where lives are at risk.
The bill will restrict access to the most sensitive types of data to the police, emergency services and intelligence agencies. However, local authorities, which were responsible for 1,800 out of the 500,000 requests for such data last year, will need the approval of a magistrate in future for such requests.
The separate crime and courts bill will set up the National Crime Agency from next April, and speed up immigration appeals and to strengthen the powers of UK Border Force officers. It will also include proposals to introduce television cameras into courts, reform judicial appointments and a radical scheme to allow magistrates sitting on their own to operate from community centres and police stations to deal with low-level uncontested cases within days or even hours of arrest.
And here's a line from my colleague Rupert Jones about the public sector pensions bill.
Ministers are pressing ahead with their controversial reforms of public sector pensions ahead of a new strike tomorrow (Thursday) by tens of thousands of workers.
A public service pensions bill was included in the Queen's speech, despite continued opposition from unions, who say the changes mean millions of workers will have to "work longer, pay more and get less" at retirement.
Civil servants, lecturers, health visitors, Ministry of Defence staff, immigration officers and off-duty police officers will be among those staging walkouts and taking part in other forms of protest tomorrow.
The government paper said: "It would establish a common framework across public service pension schemes. The changes would also ensure provision is sustainable, and that costs and benefits between employers, workers and other taxpayers are balanced more fairly."
My colleague Jill Treanor has sent me this about the City measures in the Queen's speech.
There had been some expectation before the speech that there would a direct reference to handing shareholders more powers to tackle boardroom excess. I didn't hear any direct reference to that but assume that the enterprise and regulatory reform bill will be the vehicle for any changes.
The lines on banking reform were expected. Early reaction comes in from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Kevin Burrowes, UK financial services leader at PwC, said: "The emerging risk is that as the banks become regulated utilities, some banking activities may be pushed into the largely unregulated shadow banking sector. Fixing one problem while another begins to emerge must be avoided."
ITV have put up some video of Dennis Skinner's "Jubilee year, double-dip recession, what a start" moment. (See 11.29am.)
I was sceptical about the groceries code adjudicator bill (see 11.35am), but Tim Farron, the Lib Dem president (and a rural MP - he represents Westmorland and Lonsdale) has just told the BBC that it's very important. It will mean that British farmers get a fair deal, he said.
My colleague Rupert Jones has sent me a line about the pension plans in the Queen's speech.
Plans for a flat-rate state pension initially worth about £140 a week were included in the Queen's speech as part of a shake-up that will also bring forward an increase in the state pension age to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
Under the pensions bill, the basic state pension (currently worth up to £107.45 a week) and state second pension (also known as S2P, and formerly known as Serps) will be replaced by a single scheme, which the government says will cost no more than the existing system.
The reforms follow concerns that people are not being encouraged to save enough for their old age as they are being put off by the current system, which is too complex.
The government paper said it is "committing to ensuring that the state pension age is increased in future to take into account increases in longevity".
That's it. All over the for the Queen for another year.
The Queen is still speaking.
In the year of the Diamond Jubilee, Prince Philip and I will continue to take part in celebrations across the United Kingdom. The Prince of Wales and other members of my family are travelling widely to take part in festivities throught the Commonwealth.
Prince Philip and I look forward to the London Olympics and Paralympic Games and to welcoming visitors from around the world to London and venues throught the country.
At last, the Queen gets to mention something she might enjoy.
Other measures will be laid before you.
This is the get-out clause, which means the government can include extra bills if if wants to. Invariably, there will be other bills.
My lords and members of the House of Commons - I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.
Any more talk of God and she'll start to sound like George Galloway.
The Queen is still speaking.
My government will seek the approval of parliament relating to the agreed financial stability mechanism within the euro area.
There will be a European Union (approval of treaty amendment decision) bill.
My government will seek the approval of parliament on the anticipated accession of Croatia to the European Union.
That's the Croatia accession bill.
My government will work to support a secure and stable Afghanistan, to reduce the threat of nuclear proliferation, including in Iran, and to bring greater stability to the Horn of Africa.
In the Middle East and North Africa, my government will support the extension of political and economic freedom in countries in transition.
There's always a foreign policy passage in the Queen's speech.
My government has set out firm plans to spend 0.7% of gross national income as official development assistance from 2013. This will be the first time the United Kingdom has met this agreed international commitment.
The goverment is committed to legislating to force governments to meet this 0.7% target. But there will be no bill this session. This concerns some aid campaigners.
My government will build strategic partnerships with the emerging powers.
The United Kingdom will assume the presidency of the G8 in 2013. My government will use this opportunity to promote international security and prosperity.
The Queen is still speaking.
My government will continute to work with the 15 other Commonwealth realms to take forward reform of the rules governing succession to the Crown.
This is the plan to ensure that, if Kate and William's first child is a baby girl, she will become Queen and that she won't be leap-frogged by a younger brother (as she would under the current rules).
Legislation will be brought forward which will introduce individual registration of electors and improve the adminstration of elections.
This is the electoral registration and adminstration bill. Individual voter registation is supposed to cut fraud, but there are fears that it will led to more people failing to register to vote.
A bill will be brought forward to reform the composition of the House of Lords.
This is the one that's going to cause all the problems. More about it later.
My government will continue to work constructively and cooperately with the devolved institutions.
Up to a point. Ministers still want to stop Alex Salmond having his two-question referendum on Scottish independent in 2014.
Members of the House of Commons - Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.
That means it's all going to cost money.
My lords and members of the House of Commons - My government is committed to reducing and preventing crime. A bill will be introduced to establish the National Crime Agency to tackle the most serious and organised crime and strengthen border security. The courts and tribunals service will be reformed to increase efficiency, transparency and judicial diversity.
That's the crime and courts bill.
Legislation will be introduced to protect freedom of speech and reform the law of defamation.
Hooray. About time too. This is a reference to the defamation bill.
My government will introduce legislation to strengthen oversight of the security and intelligence agencies. This will allow courts, through the limited use of closed proceedings, to hear a greater range of evidence in natonal security cases.
This measure, the justice and security bill, is one of the most controversial items in the legislative programme.
My government intends to bring forward measures to maintain the ability of the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access vital communications data under strict safeguards to protect the public, subject to scrutiny of draft clauses.
This is the draft communications data bill, another hugely controversial measure. You can tell that these two bills are going to be tricky because the Queen is stressing their limitations, with phrases like "limited use" and "strict safeguards". It makes her sound like a politician.
With every Queen's speech, lobby correspondents try to work out who are the winners and who are the losers. A colleague suggests that this time MI5 and MI6 are the main beneficiaries.
The line about "subject to scrutiny of draft clauses" is interesting too. All draft bills are subject to scrutiny. But this seems to have been included at the behest of Nick Clegg, who is facing a Lib Dem revolt over these measures.
The Queen is still speaking.
A draft bill will be published to reform the water industry in England and Wales.
That's the draft water bill.
My government will bring forward measures to modernise the pension system and reform the state pension, creating a fair, simple and sustainable foundation for private saving.
That's a reference to the pensions bill. You probably won't be reading a great deal about the groceries code adjudicator bill over the next 12 months, but the pensions bill is a major piece of welfare reform.
Legislation will be introduced to reform public service pensions in line with the recommendations of the independent commission on public service pensions.
And this is another biggie. There will be a lot of talk about the public service pensions bill during this session of parliament because it's the bill that will cut public service pensiosn. But the Lib Dems and the Tories are reasonably united on this, and so it should get through parliament reasonably easily.
A draft bill will be published setting out measures to close the Audit Commission and establish new arrangements for the audit of local public bodies.
That's the draft local audit bill.
My government will strive to improve the lives of children and families.
That's nice to know. This line is in the speech to link the next bills being mentioned.
My government will propose measures to improve provision for disabled children and children with special educational needs. New arrangements will be proposed to support children in family law cases, reform court processes for children in care and strengthen the role of the children's commissioners.
These measures will be in the children and families bill, which will implement measures in set out in a special needs green paper last year.
Measures will be proposed to make parental leave more flexible so both parents may share parenting responsibilities and balance work and family commitments.
That's also in the children and families bill.
A draft bill will be published to modernise adult care and support in England.
Significantly, the care and support bill will only be a draft bill. When Andrew Dilnot published his proposals for reform of social care last year, he said that he wanted a white paper to appear before Easter 2012. That white paper still hasn't arrived.
The Queen is still speaking.
My government will introduce legislation to reform competition law to promote enterprise and fair markets.
That's the enterprise and regulatory reform bill.
My government will introduce legislation to establish a Green Investment Bank.
That's also in the enterprise and regulatory reform bill.
Measures will be brought forward to further strengthen regulation of the financial services sector and implement the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking.
That's the banking reform bill, which is going to implement the findings of the Vickers commission.
My government will introduce legislation to establish an independent adjudicator to ensure supermarkets deal fairly and lawfully with suppliers.
That's the groceries code adjudicator bill, which is not one I've heard of until today, I'm afraid. I've been trying to think of a snappy title for the new supermarket regulator, but Ofgrocer doesn't really do it. Any better ideas anyone?
A bill will be introduced to reduce burdens on charities, enabling them to claim additional payments on small donations.
That's the small donations bill.
My government will propose reform of the electricity market to deliver secure, clean and affordable electricity and ensure prices are fair.
This will be contained in an energy bill. The government wrote the Queen's speech, but this line could have been written by Ed Miliband. Last month he identified five bills that would be in a Labour's Queen's speech, and one of them was an energy bill "to would break up the dominance of the Big Six power companies and require them by law to offer 4 million elderly people the lowest rate available".
The Queen is starting.
My government's legislative programme will focus on economic growth, justice, and constitutional reform.
So Nick Clegg can say that he's got Lords reform into the first line.
My ministers' first priority will be to reduce the deficit and restore economic stability.
That's a bit ominous. In the last Queen's speech, two years ago, she said: "The first priority is to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth." The government has now replaced restoring growth with restoring stability. Expectations are being lowered.
Legislation will be introduced to reduce burdens on business by repealing unnecessary legislation and to limit state inspection of businesses.
That's a reference to the enterprise and regulatory reform bill.
Kenneth Clarke, the Lord Chancellor, is presenting the Queen with a copy of her speech.
MPs are arriving in the Lords.
Members of the House of Lords awaiting the start of the Queen's speech. Photograph: Pool/Reuters
Peers are already waiting for the Queen.
Black Rod (aka lieutenant General David Leakey) is banging on the door of the Commons. As Huw Edwards reminds us, the door is slammed in his face as a sign of the independence of the Commons.
But then they open it.
David Cameron and Ed Miliband process to the House of Lords, London, to listen to the Queen's speech at the State Opening of Parliament Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Black Rod summons MPs to attend the Queen
Then Dennis Skinner comes out with his traditional quip.
Jubilee Year. Double-dip recession. What a start.
Some Tory MPs seem to be jeering at him.
(The Skinner joke at the arrival of Black Rod is almost part of our constitution now.)
Gold Stick in Waiting. That's a great job title, isn't it. The Princess Royal is doing the job at the moment.
Wonder how she got that? I don't suppose they advertised it in the Guardian.
The Queen is processing into the Lords chamber now. Here's an extract from the official description of the ceremony.
Her Majesty, having put on the Royal Robes and wearing the Imperial State Crown, enters the Royal Gallery and proceeds in State to the Chamber of the House of Lords. The Heralds and Pursuivants, the Serjeants at Arms, Clarenceux King of Arms, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms and the Ladies in Waiting enter the Chamber through the doorway on the left, the remainder of the Procession entering through the doorway on the right.
John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, is going into the Commons chamber. It's already packed with MPs.
The Queen is getting out of her coach. As usual, she looks faintly bored by it all. After all this is her 59th Queen's speech.
In the Lords Kenneth Clarke, the Lord Chancellor, is all dogged up in his ceremonial outfit. He is holding a pouch containing the Queen's speech. On the BBC, Huw Edwards seems to think he's carrying it in rather a casual manner. He was supposed to check that it contained the speech, apparently. But he did not bother.
The Queen is leaving Buckingham Palace. Not long to go now.
The Queen's crown has just arrived at Westminster.
Here's some State Opening tradition.
Conservative MP Mark Francois has arrived at Buckingham Palace, where he will stay as a "hostage" while the Queen is in Parliament #paqueen
— Andrew Woodcock (@AndyWoodcock) May 9, 2012
Last week, in an interview with the Evening Standard, David Cameron gave the impression that he would be happy for the coalition to continue after 2015. This is what he said.
When it comes to the next election, do you want a Conservative-led government, or to go backwards with Labour or waste your votes on one of these other parties, that is the key question.
The reference to a "Conservative-led" government infuriated some Tory MPs and today, in an interview with the Daily Mail, Cameron has tried to repair the damage. He repeatedly mentioned his desire to see a "Conservative-only" government and he blamed the Lib Dems for the fact that his programme wasn't more Tory.
'There is a growing list of things that I want to do but can't, which will form the basis of the Conservative manifesto that I will campaign for right up and down the country,' the prime minister said. 'Be in no doubt, I want a Tory-only government' ...
Directly addressing senior Conservative MPs who unveiled an alternative Queen's speech featuring traditional Tory policies at the weekend, the prime minister declared: 'I completely understand your frustrations, but let's be clear: We've taken on some areas like reforming student finance, reforming public sector pensions, freezing public sector pay.
'These are things that previous Conservative governments weren't able to do.
'Hell, I even vetoed an EU treaty. So I would say to Conservatives, I know it's frustrating.
'I share your frustration. I want a Conservative-only government.'
Cameron seems to have spoken to the Daily Mail shortly before he went to Essex with Nick Clegg to "renew the coalition wedding vows". I suppose the interview is the political equivalent of Cameron ringing up an old girlfriend on his wedding night to tell her that she's still his true love.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg have been telling us in recent days that they are not obsessed with Lords reform. Unfortunately for them, the BBC keeps mentioning Lords reform right at the start of all its news items about the Queen's speech. Number 10 aren't spinning this very successfully.
The Queen's speech used to take place at the end of the year, normally in November. But the government has moved it to May so that the parliamentary year is now in synch with the electoral calender. Under the Fixed Term Parliament Act, general elections are always supposed to be held in May. Previously a May election normally resulted in the session of parliaement beforehand being very short and the first one of the new session being very long.
But Lord Knight, a Labour peer, has spotted a problem.
Lots of noble excitement at being the centre of attention - will this be the beginning of the end of the ceremony in this overly warm ermine
— Jim Knight (@jimpknight) May 9, 2012
The Times has got a cracking story today: the revelation that David Cameron sent a text to Rebekah Brooks shortly before she resigned as chief executive of News International telling her to keep her head up. My colleague Patrick Wintour has filed a story with full details. The Times story comes from an updated version of a biography of Cameron. Here's an extract from their story (paywall).
The book, Cameron: Practically a Conservative by Francis Elliott of The Times and James Hanning of The Independent on Sunday, details how Mr Cameron and Mrs Brooks would often "pop round to one another's houses" in south Oxfordshire."The wider public might have liked to know too of the text message that Charlie Brooks told friends Cameron sent to Brooks at the beginning of the week in which she resigned, telling her to keep her head up and she'd get through her difficulties," the authors add.
"Such contact came to an abrupt halt soon afterwards, with Brooks not wanting to embarrass Cameron and he wanting to be able to say, hand on heart, that they had not been in touch.
"But it was claimed that Cameron did send an emissary to Brooks to mitigate his sudden coldness towards her. The gist of the message was, 'Sorry I couldn't have been as loyal to you as you have been to me, but Ed Miliband had me on the run'." ...
In May 2011, Mr Cameron asked Scotland Yard to open a review into the Madeleine McCann case, a cause supported by The Sun, also owned by News International. The authors suggest that a debt was being repaid for The Sun's decision to back the Conservatives at the 2010 general election.
"There was definitely a feeling that Rebekah felt the PM owed them," the authors quote someone intimately involved.
The government is saying it wants to reach consensus on Lords reform. On the BBC News, Lord Richard, the Labour former leader of the Lords, has just said that this amounted to the bill being kicked "into the long, long grass". There is no chance of getting the Lords and the Commons to agree, he said.
For the record, here are the YouGov GB polling figures from last night.
Labour: 44% (up 1 points from YouGov in the Sunday Times)
Conservatives: 31% (no change)
Lib Dems: 8% (down 1)
Ukip: 8% (no change)
Labour lead: 13 points
Government approval: -43
As Anthony Wells says at UK Polling Report, 13 points is as large as Labour's lead has ever been in YouGov polls since the general election. Labour has had a 13-point lead only twice before, both times in April.
In America the key political speech setting out the executive's programme for the year is the State of the Union address. It's delivered by the president and it usually contains some soaring rhetoric. In Britain the equivalent is the Queen's speech. It's called a speech, but actually it's just a very short list of measures, glued together with some platitudes. They are extraordinarily boring. If you don't believe me, you can read some of the old ones here, going back almost 20 years.
So why are we getting all excited? Because it's a statement about what parliament is going to be doing for the next 12 months. It is easy to exaggerate the importance of this - although we will get a list of bills this morning, we will get precious little detail about them, and there is nothing to stop the government introducing new legislation not mentioned in the Queen's speech as this session of parliament goes on - but, in drafting the Queen's speech, the government has had to take decisions about what to put in and what to leave out. We will learn something about its priorities.
But, to be honest, it's also a bit of fun. The Queen speaks at 11.30am and at 2.30pm MPs begin the debate on the loyal address. It starts with speeches from two backbenchers, and then Ed Miliband and David Cameron open the debate properly. They are big political speeches but, in footballing terms, it's more of a friendly than a cup final. The speeches are expected to be quite funny, and for a day MPs can wallow in the silly traditions, the hats, the frocks, Siliver Stick, the Cap of Maintenance, all that ceremonial nonsense, and even the traditional Dennis Skinner joke when Black Rod turns up in the Commons to summon MPs to the Lords to hear the Queen.
Here's our preview of what the Queen's speech is going to contain.
I'll be focusing on the Queen's speech and the subsequent debate today, but I'll also be looking at the papers and covering any other breaking political news. I'll post a summary at about 1pm and another after Cameron's speech in the Commons this afternoon is over.
If you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm on @AndrewSparrow.
And if you're a hardcore fan, you can follow @gdnpoliticslive. It's an automated feed that tweets the start of every new post that I put on the blog.
• This article was amended on 10 May 2012. The original suggested it was the Queen's 69th Queen's speech. This has been corrected.