Queen Opens Parliament on Security Note

Queen Elizabeth II opened a new session of Parliament today by announcing government plans to impose new controls on Britain’s secret service and to force political candidates in Northern Ireland to renounce violence.

The monarch, wearing a long white gown and the imperial crown, outlined the far-reaching legislative program before ermine-robed peers, diplomats and other members of the Royal Family in the House of Lords.

By tradition, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whose officials wrote the speech, and the other members of the House of Commons stood at the back of the chamber.

The 10-minute speech read by the queen outlined 16 new pieces of legislation that the government plans to introduce in the coming year.

“A bill will be introduced to put the security service on a statutory basis,” said the queen, announcing that formal operating rules will be drawn up for the first time for Britain’s MI5 counterintelligence service. It remained unclear, however, whether the bill will make the service accountable to Parliament. Officials said the measures would not apply to MI6, the intelligence-gathering service.

Regarding Northern Ireland, the queen said legislation will require election candidates to make “a declaration against terrorism.” The measure is aimed at the outlawed and mainly Roman Catholic Irish Republican Army and its legal political front, Sinn Fein.