Queen’s Ceremonial Speech Opens Parliament : Britain Plans Bills on Terrorism, MI-5 Agency

In a spectacle as old as Britain’s democracy and as contemporary as strategic arms talks, Queen Elizabeth II outlined an ambitious and controversial legislative agenda here Tuesday as she formally opened a new term of Parliament.

The monarch’s 10-minute speech, which was actually drafted by aides to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, identified 16 bills that the government intends to bring forward this session, including a new anti-terrorism measure for Northern Ireland and another establishing the first legal framework for the secretive MI-5 domestic intelligence agency.

Two other bills, expected to be introduced within the month, would privatize England’s water and electric utilities, bringing an estimated $45-billion windfall to the government but raising criticism from opponents who charge that consumers will be shortchanged.

By tradition, Thatcher and other members of the House of Commons stood in the back of the room as the queen read her speech from a huge golden throne at the front of the ornate Chamber of the House of Lords in London’s Palace of Westminster.

Thousands Line Route

In a ceremony timed to the minute and little changed through more than seven centuries, the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, traveled to Westminster from Buckingham Palace by horse-drawn royal coach as thousands lined the mile-long route on a cold, clear autumn day.

The coach itself was new, however--a $219,000 vehicle donated by Australia to mark its bicentennial. Featuring hydraulic suspension and electrically controlled windows, it replaces the Irish State Coach used by royalty since 1910.

At Parliament, the queen donned the sparkling imperial crown, set with 2,783 diamonds, an egg-sized ruby and a sapphire dating from the 11th-Century King Edward the Confessor. The red velvet and gold lace train of her white satin gown was so long that it took four pages to assist her.

Then, led by the Lord High Chamberlain--who, following tradition, walks backwards so as not to turn his back on his monarch--and accompanied by aides bearing such heraldic titles as Rouge Dragon Pursuivant and Keeper of Her Majesty’s Privy Purse, the queen entered the Lords’ Chamber.

She waited patiently on her throne as the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod went to fetch members of the House of Commons, who slammed the door in his face. It was more tradition, underlining the authority of the Commons, whose members finally respond after the Gentleman Usher raps three times with his ebony staff.

The speech itself was almost anti-climactic, opening with a promise of continuing government support for efforts to reduce the threat of strategic, chemical and conventional weapons.

Earlier Tuesday, the British press had reported what was to be the speech’s major surprise--the bill on MI-5. It is expected for the first time to detail the agency’s mission and set out its accountability to the government. It is not yet clear what, if any, parliamentary oversight might be included.

The legislation will not extend to MI-6, the country’s external intelligence-gathering agency, whose operations are so secret that it is not even officially acknowledged to exist.