London - In a ceremony marked by pomp and circumstance, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II Wednesday set out the government's legislative programme for the remaining months before a general election to be held before June, 2010. The queen, 83, rode from Buckingham Palace to the Westminster parliament, in the horse-drawn carriage used for state occasions, flanked by her husband, Prince Philip, who is 88.
Inside, following a centuries-old tradition, she read out the key points for the government's legislative programme, which this year highlighted efforts to cut back the budget deficit and to curtail excessive bankers' bonuses.
While opinion polls have consistently predicted that the Labour government led by Gordon Brown is almost certain to lose the election - Labour has been in power since 1997 - government ministers insist that the outcome of the poll remains wide open.
The legislative proposals submitted Wednesday include a fiscal responsibility bill, under which the government pledges to strive to halve the budget deficit within four years, and to clamp down on bonuses for bankers who take "reckless and excessive risks."
However, with a maximum of seven months left until the elections, the bulk of the legislation proposed will not be implemented by the current parliament.
Ahead of Wednesday's ceremony, the opposition Liberal Democrats had called on the government to "axe" this year's lavish ceremony and to replace it with reforms to "clean up politics" following the scandal over the abuse of parliamentary expenses earlier this year.
