King: Government will 'strengthen' Union - but no mention of Northern Ireland or trade border

Sitting beside Queen Camilla, the 74 year old monarch set out the government's legislative agenda for what's expected to be the last time before a general election.The speech included plans to tackle inflation, develop a green economy, introduce a smoking ban and tackle anti-semitism.

Whilst there was a broad proposal to promote and strengthen the Union, there was no specific mention of Northern Ireland in the first King’s Speech in the reign of Charles III.

The DUP have been in discussions with the government over restoring Northern Ireland's ability to trade freely with the rest of the United Kingdom after the Windsor Framework failed to satisfy the party's demands before a return to Stormont. As expected, no legislation to deal with the trade border in the Irish Sea was mentioned.

While 21 bills were announced, the King only said that the government "will promote the integrity of the Union and strengthen the social fabric of the United Kingdom".

That was in contrast to plans for a specific bill which to exploit potential post-Brexit global trade opportunities, which Northern Ireland may not be able to fully avail of as it remains wedded to the EU single market.

In the first King's Speech in the United Kingdom for over 70 years, the monarch announced that “a bill will be brought forward to promote trade and investment with economies in the fastest growing region in the world.

"My ministers will continue to negotiate trade agreements with dynamic economies, delivering jobs and growth in the United Kingdom."

Other plans announced included tougher sentences for the most serious offenders in England and Wales, legal frameworks for new technologies and plans to tackle waiting lists and transform the NHS in England.

The TUV leader Jim Allister said said: “The passing reference to the integrity of the Union in His Majesty’s speech will provide little comfort to unionists.

"This Conservative government has been responsible for huge constitutional vandalism to the Union going so far as to put into suspension one of the two crucial legs of the Union - the economic integrity of the UK by agreeing to a border in the Irish Sea.”

The SDLP leader Colum Eastwood MP said of the speech: “The Tory government’s legislative programme is bare. They have run out of ideas and are quickly running out of road. Dropping key commitments to ban conversion therapy, focussing on narrow nativist rhetoric around immigration and scaling down the ambition to tackle the climate crisis represent a government on its last legs.

“Anyone from the North listening to the speech in the hope of hearing more about progress on restoring the democratic institutions will be sorely disappointed. The privatised process between the DUP and the government, to the exclusion of all other traditions, is also running out of road. Patients waiting for hospital treatment, parents at their wits end trying to provide for their kids, schools forced to cut back on key programmes and supplies - that is what the DUP/Tory axis is delivering and it isn’t good enough.

“The SDLP opposition is ready to get to work with big ideas around childcare provision, creating sustainable jobs in every region across Northern Ireland, advancing healthcare transformation and making sure that everyone has the chance to make a life for themselves here at home. But that its being frustrated by the failure to govern.

“If the talks do not reach a decisive conclusion in the short term then there must be a new conversation about how power is shared between the traditions across the North. In the SDLP’s view that means a new model of shared stewardship between the Irish and British governments.

"People across our communities are running out of patience with this circus – it’s time to get back to government now.”