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Queen Lays Out Johnson's Brexit Plans at Parliament Opening

Associated Press

   LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II formally opened a new session of Britain's
   Parliament on Thursday with a speech laying out Prime Minister Boris
   Johnson's plans to use his commanding majority to take the U.K. out of
   the European Union and shake up the country's public services.

   Johnson's Conservative Party won an 80-strong majority in the 650-seat
   House of Commons last week on a pledge to "get Brexit done" by leaving
   the European Union on Jan. 31, and a broad promise to end years of
   public spending austerity.

   Now Johnson has to turn his election pledges into political reality.

   The Queen's Speech -- written by the government but read out by the
   monarch from atop a golden throne in the House of Lords -- rattled
   through several dozen bills that the government plans to pass in the
   coming year.

   The first will be Johnson's Withdrawal Agreement Bill, the law needed
   to make Brexit a reality. It must become law before Jan. 31 if Johnson
   is to stick to his timetable, and the government plans to hold the
   first significant vote on it Friday.

   The bill commits Britain to leaving the EU on Jan. 31 and to concluding
   trade talks with the bloc by the end of 2020. Johnson insists he won't
   agree to any more delays -- a vow that has set off alarm bells among
   businesses, who fear that means the country will face a "no-deal"
   Brexit at the start of 2021.

   Trade experts and EU officials say striking a free trade deal within 11
   months will be a struggle. European Commission President Ursula von der
   Leyen on Wednesday called the timetable "extremely challenging."

   The government also plans to pass several other Brexit-related
   measures, including a new immigration system that will be introduced
   after Brexit, when EU citizens will lose the automatic right to live
   and work in the U.K., and new structures for agriculture and fishing.

   Johnson also promised "an ambitious program of domestic reform,"
   including a law committing the government to spend more on the National
   Health Service, which has struggled to keep up with growing demand
   during a decade-long funding squeeze by previous Conservative
   governments.

   There were tough-sounding announcements on law and order, including
   longer sentences for people convicted of terrorist offenses and other
   serious crimes.

   Several of the measures are likely to prove contentious. The government
   plans to set up a "Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission" that
   could lead to reform of the Supreme Court. The court angered the
   government by ruling in September that Johnson's decision to suspend
   Parliament was illegal.