Queen’s Speech to Parliament Viewed as Clue to Early Election

Queen Elizabeth II opened the new session of Parliament on Wednesday and outlined a light legislative program for the coming year, fueling speculation that the Conservative government will call an early election next summer.

Amid centuries-old pageantry, the queen read in the House of Lords a speech written by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government. It outlined 19 new bills, dominated by law and order measures and reiterating government determination to press on with sales of major industries.

“If anyone doubted we were heading for a general election, then the election speech we have just heard . . . should dispel those doubts,” David Steel, leader of the centrist Liberal Party, declared.

Thatcher Speech

In the House of Commons, Thatcher, raising her voice above the jeers of opposition legislators, lauded her government’s policies of returning industries to private ownership and curbs on state spending and labor unions.

“Always back--back to the very policies which nearly broke Britain,” Thatcher said of the opposition Labor Party’s socialist program.

The bills mentioned by the queen included proposals to empower courts to seize profits of serious crime and impose life sentences for carrying firearms.

On Northern Ireland, the speech underlined Britain’s commitment to the year-old Anglo-Irish accord, whose first anniversary this weekend could be marked by renewed protests from the Protestant majority. The accord gives the Roman Catholic Republic of Ireland a consultative role in the province’s affairs.

Opposition legislators noted that the program contained no essential legislation, leaving Thatcher free to seek the dissolution of Parliament and call an election before the new session is due to end next fall.

Thatcher came to power in 1979 and won a second term in 1983. She must call another election by June, 1988, but she can pick a time when her party has the best chance of winning.

Summer Vote Possible

Thatcher aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, ruled out an election within the next few months but left open the possibility of a summer vote. Early election speculation has increased since three recent opinion polls showed the Conservatives ahead of Labor for the first time in nearly a year.

Members of the House of Commons, headed by Thatcher and Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock stood in a crowd at the back of the House of Lords, according to ancient tradition. They stood behind the row of peers, members of the unelected upper house, seated and wearing scarlet and ermine robes.

The 10-minute speech also contained a pledge to try to improve relations with Argentina, which have deteriorated since Britain’s Oct. 29 announcement that it would enforce a 150-mile fishing limit around the disputed Falkland Islands.