Professor of Politics, Philip Cowley, had a letter published in The Times addressing the Government’s call for a Queen’s Speech. He writes: “Although it is indeed unusual for a government to advance a legislative programme while simultaneously seeking a general election, this overlooks the fact that the Fixed-term Parliaments Act has removed from the government the ability to call that election. It is also curious to claim that Queen’s Speeches somehow only occur after elections; they normally occur periodically during a parliament, and we are now well overdue one. As for the claims that this will somehow embarrass the monarch who will have to read out sham partisan claims, I can only assume they have not listened to many previous Queen’s Speeches.”PDF available on request: The Times