The key line in Prince Charles’s Queen’s Speech

Today’s Queen’s Speech will mostly be remembered as Prince Charles’ first. His delivery was strikingly flat; it would be hard to discern what he thought of any measure as his tone remained the same throughout, as it should do. Given how much we know of Charles’s views on various issues – too much given his constitutional position – people will always be looking for clues as to his view on this or that issue. 

The speech was mostly as expected. The problem for the government is that the biggest issue facing the country is the cost of living crisis, but you can’t solve that through legislation: parliament can’t just pass a bill to return inflation to its two per cent target.

There are a slew of bills to do with crime – both offline and online – and protest. This suggests that the Tories know they need to be able to pass a basic hygiene test on crime before the next election.