The day at Westminster.

The Commons debate on the King's Speech continues at 2:30pm, with the day's session focused on backing business to create economic growth — the theme that sits at the heart of a legislative programme announced five days ago and including an EU Partnership Bill, a Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill, and a Regulating for Growth Bill, all designed to address what the Office for Budget Responsibility described in March as a challenging backdrop of weak growth and elevated government borrowing. At 3:30pm the Public Accounts Committee takes evidence from John-Paul Marks, chief executive of HMRC, and three of his senior officials on large business tax compliance, an inquiry proceeding from a National Audit Office report examining whether HMRC's approach to taxing large businesses — which collectively account for around 40 per cent of total tax revenue while representing less than 0.1 per cent of UK business — is delivering value for money. The Environmental Audit Committee then sits from 4:15pm to hear evidence on national security and COP-17, with witnesses including Lieutenant General Richard Nugee of the Ministry of Defence, as the committee examines how climate and biodiversity risks intersect with national security planning ahead of this year's biodiversity summit.

The Commons opens its substantive debate on the King's Speech at 09:30, with Thursday's proceedings marking the first themed day of a five-day address that sets out the government's legislative programme for the new session following Wednesday's State Opening; the theme for the day has not been formally announced but MPs are expected to range across the government's domestic agenda in what is the first real opportunity to test the breadth of cross-party reaction to the Gracious Speech. The Home Affairs Committee takes oral evidence at 10:00 on responses to antisemitism, an inquiry examining rising levels of antisemitism in the UK and whether marches and protests have contributed to the increase, and what steps the government should take to address it. Witnesses in the first session include representatives from the Antisemitism Policy Trust, the Community Security Trust, the Jewish Leadership Council, and the Board of Deputies of British Jews, with Lord Mann, the Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, appearing in a later slot. The day closes with Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney delivering an adjournment speech on the impact of a third runway at Heathrow — a debate with growing weight given the government's timetable to secure planning permission by 2029, with key regulatory and policy decisions expected throughout 2026.

State Opening of Parliament dominates the Commons on Wednesday, with King Charles delivering the Speech from the Throne at around 11:30am, formally opening the second session of this Parliament and setting out Labour's legislative programme for the 2026–27 session. Bills expected to feature include a 10-Year Health Plan Bill, which would restructure NHS England and consolidate arm's-length bodies, a Public Office (Accountability) Bill placing a statutory duty of candour on public officials — the so-called Hillsborough Law — and an energy independence bill intended to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels. From 2:30pm, the Commons sits for the Debate on the Address, where the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, and the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch — who has published an alternative legislative programme spanning welfare, immigration, and defence — will deliver the set-piece opening exchanges of the new session, the first substantial parliamentary confrontation since the May local elections. The Education Committee takes oral evidence on reading for pleasure at the same hour, a lower-profile session that will nonetheless draw attention given the government's stated ambition to make literacy improvement a central plank of its schools agenda.

King Charles III delivers the King's Speech at around 11:30am, setting out Labour's legislative programme for the 2026–27 session and formally opening Parliament after the prorogation of a 22-month session that passed roughly 30 bills. Among the measures expected to feature are a bill to enable potential public ownership of British Steel — which would return the company to government hands for the first time since 1988 — and legislation providing a mechanism for the UK to dynamically align with EU law in areas including food standards and carbon emissions trading as part of the ongoing UK-EU reset. The Commons then sits from 2:30pm for the Debate on the Address, when two Labour backbenchers move the motion for the Loyal Address before Kemi Badenoch and Sir Keir Starmer give the first set-piece exchanges of the new session, with the EU alignment bill in particular expected to draw sharp scrutiny from Conservative and Reform MPs wary of regulatory convergence with Brussels. The Education Committee also takes oral evidence at 2:30pm on reading for pleasure among children, a lower-profile but substantively important session given the weight ministers have placed on early literacy in their education agenda.

State Opening at 11:30am marks the formal start of the new parliamentary session, with King Charles delivering the government's legislative programme from the throne in the House of Lords — a speech written by Sir Keir Starmer's administration and expected to set out a wide-ranging agenda including legislation to abolish NHS England, a bill to enable dynamic alignment with EU law in areas such as food standards and carbon trading, and measures on immigration, housing, and AI regulation. The Commons then sits from 2:30pm for the Debate on the Address, the first of several days in which MPs scrutinise that programme, with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition both scheduled to speak, making this the most politically charged set-piece of the parliamentary year. The session arrives days after local elections widely expected to have tested the government, meaning the content of the King's Speech — particularly on EU alignment and immigration — will draw close attention from Conservative and Reform benches as the lens through which Labour's mid-term positioning is judged.

State Opening at 11:25am marks the formal start of a new parliamentary session, with King Charles III delivering the King's Speech from the throne in the House of Lords, setting out the government's legislative programme for the 2026–27 session; following a 22-month first session that saw the passage of 30 of the 40 bills announced in the 2024 King's Speech, the government is expected to use this second session to advance structural reforms with an eye on the 2029 general election. Among the bills anticipated are a 10-Year Health Plan Bill aimed at shifting NHS care from hospital to community, expected to include the consolidation of several arm's-length bodies, alongside a bill forming part of UK-EU reset negotiations, expected to provide a mechanism for the UK to dynamically align with EU law in sectors such as food standards, carbon emissions trading, and electricity trading — a provision controversial with those who campaigned for Brexit. Following the State Opening ceremony, the House of Commons sits from 2:30pm; after introductory statements by the Speaker, the Outlawries Bill receives its first reading — a purely formal proceeding asserting the Commons' right to deliberate on matters of its own choosing — before the first day of debate on the King's Speech begins, with the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister both due to speak. The King's Speech follows the 7 May local elections, which handed Labour significant losses and will shape the political temperature as Sir Keir Starmer seeks to use his legislative programme to reassert direction ahead of a difficult parliamentary term.

King Charles III delivers the King's Speech at around 11:25am, setting out the Labour government's legislative programme for the new parliamentary session at the State Opening of Parliament — the first since the 2024-26 session ended with prorogation on 29 April. The speech, written by ministers and read by the King from the Throne in the House of Lords chamber, will define the government's policy ambitions for the year ahead, with anticipated bills covering areas including economic growth, EU relations, home affairs, and health. The Commons sits from 2:30pm to begin the Debate on the Address, with the Outlawries Bill receiving its purely formal first reading before the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition make the opening speeches in what will extend as several days of scrutiny of the government's programme. The Education Committee takes oral evidence separately at 2:30pm on reading for pleasure — a lower-profile but substantive session bearing on literacy policy and the role of schools in sustaining the habit among children.

State Opening at 11:25am marks the formal start of a new parliamentary session, with King Charles delivering the government's legislative programme from the throne in the Lords chamber — a speech written by ministers that sets Labour's priorities for the year ahead with a general election due by 2029. The King's Speech is expected to include immigration legislation limiting the use of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in asylum cases, measures to abolish NHS England, and the Public Office (Accountability) Bill — the so-called Hillsborough law — which would place a statutory duty of candour on public bodies at public inquiries. At 14:30 the Commons returns to begin the Debate on the Address, the multi-day scrutiny of the proposed legislative programme in which government backbenchers open proceedings before opposition parties press ministers on the gaps and priorities within the speech. The Education Committee takes oral evidence on reading for pleasure at the same hour, a lower-profile but substantively significant inquiry into literacy attainment that runs against the grain of the chamber's grander ceremonial occasion.

The State Opening of Parliament at 11:25am marks the formal start of the new 2026–27 parliamentary session, with King Charles III delivering the Speech from the Throne — written by the government — setting out Labour's legislative programme for the year ahead, a programme expected to include around 30 bills spanning an Energy Security Bill, NHS reform, a Financial Services Bill, an Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, and an EU alignment measure, alongside seven bills carried over from the preceding 22-month session. The Debate on the Address opens at 2:30pm in the Chamber, giving the Conservatives and other opposition parties their first formal opportunity to respond to the government's stated intentions; the debate will run across several subsequent sitting days, with Commons votes on the Address to follow. The Education Committee takes oral evidence at 2:30pm on reading for pleasure, a session whose findings bear directly on literacy policy at a moment when ministers are under pressure to demonstrate measurable improvement in primary attainment.

The State Opening of Parliament at 11:25am marks the formal start of a new session, with King Charles III delivering a speech that sets out the Starmer government's legislative programme for the year ahead; the session since the 2024 general election has run for almost two years, making this the first King's Speech since July 2024. Anticipated legislation includes a 10-Year Health Plan Bill restructuring NHS care from hospital to community, a Cyber Security and Resilience Bill updating protections for critical supply chains, and the Public Office (Accountability) Bill — the so-called Hillsborough Law — introducing a statutory duty of candour for public officials, which had been carried over to resolve questions about its application to the security services. At 14:30 the Commons opens the Debate on the Address, the multi-day scrutiny of the government's programme that opposition parties will use to test Labour's domestic record in the wake of the 7 May local elections. Separately, the Education Committee takes oral evidence at 14:30 on screen time and social media, feeding into the government's consultation on whether to ban under-16s from social media platforms and restrict addictive design features such as infinite scrolling.

King Charles delivers the King's Speech at 11:25am, formally opening the second session of Parliament since Labour's 2024 general election victory and setting out the government's legislative programme for the year ahead — the occasion doubles as the day's dominant news event and its most consequential item of public business. The speech is expected to carry over the Railways Bill, which would formally establish Great British Railways as the single body responsible for track and train, alongside a 10-Year Health Plan Bill aimed at shifting NHS care from hospital settings into the community, and the Public Office (Accountability) Bill — widely known as the Hillsborough Law — which introduces a statutory duty of candour on public officials. At 2:30pm the Commons opens the Debate on the Address, the multi-day scrutiny of the government's programme that gives opposition parties their first set-piece opportunity to contest the legislative agenda in the chamber, with Conservative and Reform spokesmen likely to press on public finances and migration alongside the flagship domestic bills. The session closes with an adjournment debate on unadopted roads and public amenities on new developments, a constituency-level issue that affects residents on newer housing estates whose roads and shared spaces have not been taken into public ownership by their local council.

The State Opening of Parliament at 11:25am marks the formal start of the second session of this Parliament, with King Charles delivering the Speech from the Throne that sets out Labour's legislative programme for the year ahead — a programme the government has signalled will include a 10-Year Health Plan Bill restructuring NHS care from hospital to community, an English Devolution Bill granting mayors greater powers, and further carry-over legislation including the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, widely known as the Hillsborough Law, which would introduce a statutory duty of candour for public officials. The Debate on the Address begins at 14:30, giving opposition parties — the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and Reform — their first formal opportunity to challenge the government's programme and table amendments to the address. The King's Speech arrives days after the 7 May local elections, making the Prime Minister's opening pitch for the new session the dominant political story: Sir Keir Starmer must frame a forward legislative offer while his approval ratings remain sharply negative and opposition parties press him on his record, including the unresolved questions surrounding the Peter Mandelson appointment that led to two senior Downing Street resignations in February.

State Opening of Parliament at 11:25 marks the formal start of a new session, with King Charles delivering the King's Speech from the Lords chamber — a programme written by the Starmer government that is expected to include more than 30 bills, among them a 10-Year Health Plan Bill restructuring NHS care toward community settings, a Financial Services Bill overhauling City regulation, and a raft of carry-over legislation including the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, widely known as the Hillsborough Law, which introduces a statutory duty of candour for public officials. At 14:30 the Commons begins the Debate on the Address, the first of several days in which MPs respond to the government's programme, giving Sir Keir Starmer his first set-piece Commons appearance since last week's local elections — results that will frame opposition challenges about the government's political standing as it enters the second session of this Parliament. The adjournment debate, on unadopted roads and public amenities on new developments, rounds off the day with a constituency-level housing issue that reflects persistent concerns about the gap between new-build completions and the adoption of roads and shared spaces by local authorities.

State Opening of Parliament at 11:25 brings the 2024–26 session to a formal close and launches a new parliamentary year, with King Charles reading the government's legislative programme from the throne in the House of Lords — the first King's Speech since July 2024 after Labour chose to run an unusually long opening session. The speech is expected to include a major financial services reform bill, the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill — which would extend the rights of around five million leaseholders in England and Wales to buy their freeholds and challenge service charges — and the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill, both of which were trailed in draft during the last session. At 14:30 the Commons sits for the Debate on the Address, where the Prime Minister Keir Starmer will set out the government's case for its new programme and opposition leaders — including Kemi Badenoch for the Conservatives — will give their first substantive responses, a set-piece exchange whose tone is shaped by the local election results from 7 May still fresh in the political atmosphere.

State Opening at 11:25am marks the formal start of a new parliamentary session, with King Charles delivering the government's legislative programme from the throne — the first King's Speech since July 2024 after an unusually long two-year session in which Labour legislated on renters' rights, employment law, planning reform, and rail nationalisation. The speech sets Keir Starmer's agenda for the 2026–27 session and will dominate the day's media coverage; expected measures include the Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill, a ban on conversion practices, and carried-over legislation including the Public Office (Accountability) Bill and the Representation of the People Bill. At 14:30 the Commons opens the Debate on the Address, the multi-day process in which MPs respond to the programme in full — a platform opposition parties will use to challenge the government on its priorities and to table amendments testing Labour's Commons majority. The day's adjournment debate, secured on unadopted roads and public amenities on new developments, offers a lower-profile but direct measure of the tension between the government's planning expansion agenda and the practical infrastructure obligations that fall on local authorities and new residents once a development is built.

The State Opening of Parliament at 11:25am marks the formal beginning of Labour's second parliamentary session, with King Charles reading the government's legislative programme from the throne in the House of Lords — the first King's Speech since July 2024, after a near-two-year opening session that was among the longest in recent decades. Bills carried over from that session, including the Representation of the People Bill and the Courts and Tribunals Bill, are expected to feature alongside new measures, with the proposed overhaul of City of London financial regulation and a bill formally establishing Great British Railways among the likely centrepieces of Keir Starmer's programme for the year ahead. At 2:30pm the Commons returns to begin the Debate on the Address, the multi-day process by which MPs formally respond to the King's Speech and through which opposition parties — the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, and Reform UK — will set out their critiques of the government's agenda, with the adjournment debate on unadopted roads and public amenities on new housing developments rounding off the day's business on a constituency issue of growing concern as housebuilding targets drive up the volume of new estates handed over with incomplete infrastructure.

The Health and Social Care Committee hears evidence at 09:15 on its food and weight management inquiry examining new obesity medications and NHS weight management services, while at noon the Prime Minister faces questions in the chamber following previous tumultuous parliamentary sessions. The day closes with an adjournment debate on the impact of HS2 on communities, addressing the continuing effects of the high-speed rail project's construction and the aftermath of Phase 2 cancellations on residents who lost homes under statutory blight.

Treasury oral questions at 11:30am give Rachel Reeves her first set-piece appearance in the chamber since she returned from last week's IMF spring meetings in Washington, where she struck a joint agreement with ten other major economies on trade restrictions and energy security, and MPs across the opposition benches are expected to press her on the economic consequences of the Middle East conflict and the trajectory of energy bills. The Public Bill Committee on the Courts and Tribunals Bill sits at both 9:25am and 2pm for what are expected to be among its final sittings, with the committee due to report by 5pm: the bill's most contested clauses would remove defendants' right to elect Crown Court trial for either-way offences and allow judge-only trials for some cases, a package the government says would reduce demand on the Crown Court by the equivalent of 27,000 sitting days but which the Criminal Bar Association and a significant number of Labour MPs have opposed on principle. A Westminster Hall debate at 11am on the UK-India Technology Security Initiative offers a lower-profile but substantive opportunity for MPs to examine the progress of the bilateral framework on telecoms, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors, launched in July 2024 and now approaching its second year of implementation.

Work and Pensions oral questions at 2:30pm give Liz Kendall her first set-piece Chamber appearance since the disability and health benefits changes under the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Act began to take effect, with the reduced health element for new Universal Credit claimants — cut from £97 to £50 a week — now in force, and opposition MPs across several parties expected to press the Secretary of State on the reach and pace of those cuts. The Pension Schemes Bill returns to the main Chamber for consideration of a Lords message, with one outstanding dispute remaining: the controversial mandation power, which would allow ministers to direct pension funds to invest in specified asset classes, with the aim of boosting investment in UK assets and private markets; the Commons has already rejected Lords amendments to remove the power entirely, proposing instead to cap any direction at no more than 10% of a fund's assets in qualifying assets, with no more than half of that in UK assets, and the Lords' final response now falls back to MPs to resolve. At 3:00pm the Public Accounts Committee takes oral evidence on Northern Powerhouse Rail, examining how the government's plans for the programme could boost economic growth in the North of England, and likely questioning why it has taken the Department for Transport over a decade to define the scope; the NAO notes the department will have spent £410m on the programme by March 2026, against a funding cap of £45bn from 2026/27 onward, with the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Transport among those giving evidence.

The Commons will consider outstanding amendments to the Pension Schemes Bill in the final stages of parliamentary exchange with the Lords, following their continued disagreement over controversial provisions including a reserve power that would enable ministers to direct certain pension scheme investments into higher-risk assets. The Public Accounts Committee takes evidence on Northern Powerhouse Rail at 15:00, examining the government's £45 billion commitment to the long-delayed infrastructure programme that promises to improve east-west rail connections across the North through a phased delivery starting with electrification around Leeds in the 2030s. Work and Pensions questions at 14:30 offers ministers their first opportunity to respond to parliamentary scrutiny on departmental policy since the government's recent disputes with peers over pensions reform, with topical questions likely to reflect ongoing tensions over the balance between encouraging productive investment and protecting savers' interests.

The Commons will consider Lords amendments to the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, marking a critical stage for the government's flagship legislation designed to transfer significant powers over planning, transport and skills to elected mayors and regional authorities across England. Work and Pensions questions begin at 14:30, where ministers are expected to face pressure on recent changes to disability benefit assessments and the rollout of universal credit conditionality measures affecting lone parents. The Public Accounts Committee takes evidence at 15:00 on Northern Powerhouse Rail, with officials from the Department for Transport appearing to explain cost overruns and the decision to defer electrification on key sections of the Manchester to Leeds route.

The Commons will consider Lords amendments to three major bills this afternoon, including the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which has faced sustained debate over new statutory duties on child mental health services and school attendance interventions, and the Crime and Policing Bill, which contains provisions on tougher sentencing for repeat offenders and expanded community policing powers. The Public Accounts Committee takes evidence at 3pm on Northern Powerhouse Rail, where transport officials will be pressed on the project's revised cost estimates and delivery timeline following revelations last month that phase one could face delays of up to eighteen months. Work and Pensions questions at 2:30pm are expected to focus on the rollout of the reformed disability benefit assessment system, with the Secretary of State likely to face pressure on reports of processing backlogs affecting claimants awaiting decisions.

The Foreign Affairs Committee opens at 9am with an evidence session on the work of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, a hearing that carries particular weight given the ongoing controversy over Lord Mandelson's security vetting: the committee continues its scrutiny of the matter, having already heard from Morgan McSweeney and Cat Little, and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, appointed to the role in September 2025, is the scheduled witness, making this the set-piece appearance most likely to dominate the day's political coverage. The Representation of the People Bill returns to General Committee at 11:30am and again at 2pm for further line-by-line consideration of the government's flagship franchise legislation, which would reduce the voting age from 18 to 16 and introduce automatic voter registration — measures that have drawn opposition objections on grounds of electoral integrity and the absence of a completed review into foreign interference in UK politics. In the main chamber, MPs will hear a Select Committee Statement on the Environmental Audit Committee's ninth report on PFAS, the synthetic "forever chemicals" that are now present in almost everyone's blood and can be found across UK rivers, soil, and wildlife, with evidence linking them to an increased risk of certain cancers, immune suppression, and fertility and development problems; the committee's report concludes that while the government's recently published PFAS Plan is a welcome step, it is short on decisive actions to prevent the harmful build-up of these chemicals in the environment.

Prime Minister's Questions at midday sees Sir Keir Starmer face the Leader of the Opposition, with recent polling and the government's approach to public service reform likely to dominate exchanges. The Commons will then consider Lords amendments to three significant bills — the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which introduces new safeguarding duties and attendance measures; the Crime and Policing Bill, covering sentencing reform and police accountability; and the Pension Schemes Bill, which strengthens protections for defined-benefit schemes — with votes expected if disagreements between the two Houses remain unresolved. Select committees take evidence on critical minerals supply chains and the nuclear roadmap, while a General Committee debates draft regulations amending reception conditions for asylum seekers, a matter of continued public and political sensitivity.

The Prime Minister will make a statement on recent revelations concerning the security vetting of Peter Mandelson, following days of public attention on the matter. Committee stage of the Representation of the People Bill, which is expected to report by Thursday 23 April, continues in morning and afternoon sessions; the bill would extend voting rights to 16 and 17-year-olds and introduce reforms to voter registration and political finance. At 10am, the Defence Committee hears evidence from Paul Rimmer and former Ministry of Defence officials David Williams and Paul Lincoln on the 2022 Afghan data breach, which involved the personal data of thousands of Afghan applicants for UK resettlement and their families, potentially putting them at risk of reprisals. At 11:30am, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ministers respond to questions on international economic crime, settlements in the West Bank, human rights in Iran, and the threat posed by China.