LONDON (AP) — King Charles III on Wednesday will deliver the British government’s legislative program for the coming year to lawmakers with all the pomp and historic trappings that accompany the ceremonial opening of Parliament.
The question is whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be around to implement it and, even if he remains in post, whether he will have the authority to push his proposals through.
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Yeoman warders take part in the ceremonial search ahead of the state opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday May 13, 2026. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and wife Victoria leave 10 Downing Street to attend the State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Yeoman warders take part in the ceremonial search ahead of the state opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday May 13, 2026. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
Peers look on as Yeoman warders take part in the ceremonial search ahead of the state opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday May 13, 2026. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
Members of the Guards march ahead of Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla leaving Buckingham Palace to attend the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
FILE - King Charles III looks up as he reads the King's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords in London on July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)
The embattled prime minister has been urged to set a timetable for his departure by more than a fifth of the Labour Party's lawmakers in the House of Commons. Some junior ministers have quit the government in protest, but no one has yet challenged Starmer directly.
Early on Wednesday, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who is one of those widely tipped to be interested in succeeding Starmer, had a meeting with the prime minister that lasted less than 20 minutes. Streeting did not speak to reporters on his way in or out of 10 Downing Street.
Streeting is widely expected to break his silence after the King's Speech, which represents Starmer's latest effort to save his premiership after Labour suffered huge losses in local and regional elections last week. If those results were repeated in a national election that has to be held by 2029, the party would be overwhelmingly ejected from power.
Labour secured a landslide election victory in 2024, driving the Conservatives from power after 14 years, but since then the party’s popularity has plunged and Starmer is getting much of the blame. The reasons include a series of policy missteps, a struggling British economy, a perceived lack of vision on the prime minister’s part and questions over his judgment. Starmer’s choice of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington despite ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has continued to haunt him.
The King’s Speech, which is written by the government, will be a moment when the historic power and grandeur of Britain will collide with the reality of the modern United Kingdom, a mid-sized country with an underfunded military, rising debt and waning international influence. It's a country struggling to control immigration and pay for public services such as health care and education.
The speech is just one element of the state opening of Parliament, a traditional set piece of the political calendar that uses carefully choreographed pageantry to showcase Britain’s evolution from an absolute monarchy to a parliamentary democracy where real power is vested in the elected House of Commons.
The speech is expected to include proposals to address the cost of living crisis, create a national wealth fund to stimulate private investment in public infrastructure and tighten rules for asylum seekers. It may also include the government’s controversial proposal to abolish jury trials for some cases in England and Wales, lower the voting age to 16 and introduce a “duty of candor” for public officials, requiring them to tell the truth and cooperate with investigations.
The problem for Starmer is that many of the proposals expected to appear in the speech have been announced previously. That raises the question of whether he will be able to win over his doubters.
Even so, the speech is the focal point of a day of ceremony and tradition that has been followed since 1852, with elements of the program dating to the 16th century.
The monarch traditionally travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament, a distance of less than a mile, in a horse-drawn carriage. He then dons the Imperial State Crown and robe of state before leading a procession into the chamber of the unelected House of Lords.
A Lords official called Black Rod, named for the ebony rod he or she carries, then goes to the House of Commons to summon the chamber’s members to a joint sitting of Parliament. The doors to the Commons chamber are slammed in Black Rod’s face to symbolize the chamber’s independence from the monarchy, and they aren’t opened until Black Rod strikes the doors three times.
Once members of the Commons have crowded into the Lords’ chamber, the king delivers a speech written by the government and laying out its legislative program for the coming session of Parliament.
After the speech is read and the king leaves, the two houses of Parliament begin several days of debate on its contents.
Yeoman warders take part in the ceremonial search ahead of the state opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday May 13, 2026. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and wife Victoria leave 10 Downing Street to attend the State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Yeoman warders take part in the ceremonial search ahead of the state opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday May 13, 2026. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
Peers look on as Yeoman warders take part in the ceremonial search ahead of the state opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, Wednesday May 13, 2026. (Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP)
Members of the Guards march ahead of Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla leaving Buckingham Palace to attend the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
FILE - King Charles III looks up as he reads the King's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords in London on July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)
LONDON (AP) — King Charles III will present the U.K. government's legislative program to Parliament on Wednesday as uncertainty clouds the future of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's leadership. Starmer on Tuesday defied calls for him to stand down, following a disastrous showing for his Labour Party in local and regional elections last week. Ahead of the King's Speech, he met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, seen as one of his potential challengers, at his office in Downing Street.
Here's the latest:
King Charles III and Queen Camilla have arrived at the Houses of Parliament and the Royal Standard has been raised.
Starmer and his wife, Victoria, left their official residence under a pelting of rain and pointed questions from the media as they headed to Parliament for the king’s speech.
The Starmers had no umbrellas as they left 10 Downing Street and walked a short distance to a waiting car.
Perhaps more unpleasant, though, were the questions coming from across the street.
“Will you resign Mr. Starmer? Are you just squatting in No. 10?,” a man yelled from the area where journalists gathered. “Prime minister, is your time up? Have you lost the country, Mr. Starmer?”
The Crown Regalia – the Imperial State Crown, the Cap of Maintenance and the Sword of State – has arrived at the House of Lords ahead of the king’s speech.
The ancient symbols of royal authority come in their own carriage, Queen Alexandra’s State Coach,
The most famous symbol of the monarchy, the Imperial State Crown, will be worn by King Charles III during the state opening ceremony.
It contains 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, five rubies and more than 270 pearls, and weighs more than a kilogram.
Unions affiliated with the Labour Party called for a plan to be put in place to replace Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The Trade Union and Labour Organisation, a group of 11 unions, said the party could not “continue on its current path.”
“It’s clear that the prime minister will not lead Labour into the next election, and at some stage a plan will have to be put in place for the election of a new leader,” the group said.
The King’s Speech dates back to at least the 15th century, and the traditions highlight that history.
The first event got underway early Wednesday when the Yeomen of the Guard — a group of ceremonial bodyguards who still wear traditional red and gold uniforms from the Tudor period — performed a symbolic “search” of the Houses of Parliament for explosives. The tradition is a reminder of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot in which Roman Catholic rebels tried to kill Protestant King James I by blowing up the building during the State Opening of Parliament.
The king will travel in a carriage, as one might expect. A separate coach carries the Imperial State Crown, the Cap of Maintenance and Sword of State.
Meanwhile, a lawmaker goes to the palace as a symbolic hostage to ensure the king’s safe return. It is said the hostage is treated like royalty.
Starmer met privately Wednesday with a cabinet member who could challenge him for the leadership of the Labour Party.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting met for less than 20 minutes with Starmer at his 10 Downing Street residence.
Streeting is considered one of the top rivals as Starmer resists calls to step aside after the party’s disastrous showing in last week’s local elections across the U.K.
Streeting did not speak with reporters as he left the meeting.
The monarch traditionally travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament, a distance of less than a mile, in a horse-drawn carriage. He then dons the Imperial State Crown and the robe of state before leading a procession into the chamber of the unelected House of Lords.
A Lords official called Black Rod, named for the ebony rod he or she carries, then goes to the House of Commons to summon the chamber’s members to a joint sitting of Parliament. The doors to the Commons chamber are slammed in Black Rod’s face to symbolize the chamber’s independence from the monarchy, and they aren’t opened until Black Rod strikes the doors three times.
Once members of the Commons have crowded into the Lords’ chamber, the king delivers a speech written by the government and laying out its legislative program for the coming session of Parliament.
After the speech is read and the king leaves, the two houses of Parliament begin several days of debate on its contents.
At the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Starmer said he took responsibility for the losses in last week’s elections but would fight on.
As Cabinet members left 10 Downing Street, some voiced their support for the embattled prime minister.
Works and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said nobody publicly challenged Starmer at the meeting, while Business Secretary Peter Kyle said the prime minister was showing “really steadfast leadership.”
Later, Starmer’s deputy David Lammy warned Labour lawmakers that the only beneficiary of the party’s “navel-gazing” is the populist right and the leader of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, in particular.
“He has my full support, and what I say to colleagues is, look, let’s just step back,” he said. “Take a breath.”
On Tuesday, several junior ministers, some of whom were elected for the first time in Labour’s landslide election victory in July 2024, resigned and urged Starmer to do the same.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, minister of housing, communities and local government, was the first to quit, urging Starmer “to do the right thing for the country.”
She was followed by Jess Phillips, the safeguarding minister and a prominent member of the Labour Party. In her resignation letter, she described Starmer as a “good man fundamentally” but unable to make bold changes.
Despite the party’s dominant win driving out the Conservatives after 14 years in power, Labour’s popularity has plunged and Starmer is getting much of the blame.
The reasons include a series of policy missteps, a perceived lack of vision on the prime minister’s part, a struggling British economy and questions over his judgment. Starmer’s choice of Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington despite ties to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has continued to haunt him.
Starmer insisted Tuesday that he has no intention of resigning as calls grew louder within his Labour Party for him to step down and some junior members of his government quit in protest.
Starmer’s future has become a hot topic over the past few feverish days following historic losses for the Labour Party in local elections last week, which if repeated in a national election that has to be held by 2029, would see it overwhelmingly ejected from power.
Though no Cabinet member has quit or publicly stated the prime minister should step aside for a change in leader, there’s growing speculation that the ambitious health secretary, Wes Streeting, will inform Starmer that his days are numbered when they meet on Wednesday.
Streeting has many supporters within the parliamentary party, including some of those who resigned from Starmer’s government on Tuesday, which stoked speculation that Starmer could suffer the fate of Boris Johnson in 2022 when dozens of ministers quit en masse and forced his departure.
The King’s Speech is part of the state opening of Parliament, a traditional set piece of the political calendar. Many of the expected proposals have been announced previously, raising questions over Starmer’s capacity to win over his doubters.
The speech is expected to include proposals to address the cost of living crisis, create a national wealth fund to stimulate private investment in public infrastructure and tighten rules for asylum seekers.
It may also include the government’s controversial proposal to abolish jury trials for some cases in England and Wales, lower the voting age to 16 and introduce a “duty of candor” for public officials, requiring them to tell the truth and cooperate with investigations.
Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office leaves 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 as Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing the biggest threat yet to his authority after a growing number of disaffected lawmakers called for him to step down.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FILE - King Charles III looks up as he reads the King's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords in London on July 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)
Britain's Health Secretary Wes Streeting arrives in Downing Street for a meeting with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, Wednesday, May 13, 2026.(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets construction apprentices during a visit to London South Bank Technical College in London, Tuesday, May 12, 2026. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP)
