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Charles III will deliver his first King’s Speech to Parliament on Tuesday – announcing new laws opposed by green groups, despite his own background as an environmental campaigner.
The monarch has no formal input into the speech, which is written by Government officials to outline Rishi Sunak’s legislative agenda for the coming year, leading up to the next general election.
Whitehall insiders warned of a behind-the-scenes battle over how “political” the speech should be – but Conservative MPs said the King was “imperturbable” and would not allow his own views to show during the ceremony of the State Opening of Parliament.
Tuesday’s event is the first State Opening since the death of Elizabeth II, although she was unable to deliver the Queen’s Speech in May 2022 because of poor health so Charles, then Prince of Wales, took her place.
Sitting on the throne of the House of Lords, the King will read a list of about 20 bills, which Mr Sunak aims to push through before the election.
Buckingham Palace will have been kept informed of the contents but it does not have the power to change them.
A source involved with the Queen’s Speech in previous years told i it was usually subject to intense debate between ministerial advisers and civil servants.
“There is always a thing where someone tries to get the King, or previously Queen, to say something really political,” they said.
One measure set to be included in the speech mandates a new round of licensing for oil and gas projects in the North Sea every year, setting up a dividing line with Labour which has pledged to phase out fossil fuel exploration.
Another bill bans councils from passing environmental rules which the Government believes penalise motorists, such as blanket 20mph speed limits and low-emission zones.
The King was an enthusastic campaigner for environmental causes before taking the throne, although he has avoided political controversy since becoming the sovereign.
He has warned against the non-stop pursuit of economic growth and claimed that “time has quite literally run out” to tackle climate change.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Business Secretary, insisted that the monarch would not betray any personal opinions, saying: “I am sure the King will remain imperturbable as the late Queen was when she had to read out the removal of hereditary peers and was interrupted.”
A Whitehall source added: “The King has a job to do, it would be extraordinary if the Palace briefed against drilling for more North Sea oil and gas.”
Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow Energy Security, said the bill on North Sea oil and gas “won’t even take a penny off energy bills”, adding: “The Conservatives are so out of touch that they have given up trying to bring down energy bills for British families.”
A No 10 spokesman said: “This approach we are taking is in line with the broad understanding and acceptance that even by 2050 about a quarter of our energy mix will be met by oil and gas, so of course it is right that we use our own resources as much as possible to deliver net zero in a pragmatic way that doesn’t burden hard-working families.”
Asked whether the monarch had privately objected to any parts of the King’s Speech, the spokesman said: “This will be following a long-standing process and is very much in line with that.”