Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has admitted Labour’s planning reforms ‘may be controversial’ but are committed to ‘getting things built more quickly’

Ahead of the King’s Speech, Mr McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

We were very clear during the election campaign that we would come out of this on the side of getting things built more quickly.

That may be controversial in some places, I’ve no doubt that it will be.

But it’s reasonable for people to expect that, if we said that during the campaign, it’s what they see when the King’s Speech is published later today.

The Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East added:

If we do nothing on this, we will continue with a situation where there’s a whole generation of young people for whom the aspiration of owning their own home, or sometimes even renting one at a reasonable price, will continue to be unrealisable.

Police officers have been patrolling Whitehall ahead of today’s State Opening of Parliament.

Here are some pictures of preparations in the capital this morning.

King Charles is expected to announce around 35 draft laws today as he delivers his first speech under a Labour government.

Here are some measures he will likely set out:

• Scrapping anti-strike laws and introducing a new package of ‘workers’ rights’
• Legislation to set up a state-owned energy company GB Energy which will drive investment in green power projects such as solar and wind farms
• A package of electoral reform, including booting out hereditary peers and starting the process for introducing votes at 16
• A Criminal Justice Bill, including tougher powers on shoplifting and an extension of the ban on zombie knives
• A Border Security Bill to allow the new Border Security Command to use counter-terrorism powers to help break the people-smuggling gangs
• A Renters Reform Bill to ban no-fault evictions and force landlords to deal with mouldy flats
• The revival of Rishi Sunak’s plan to prevent anyone born after 2009 from ever buying cigarettes

The Daily Mail’s Political Editor Jason Groves reports Sir Keir Starmer will launch a fresh assault on the planning system today – meaning communities can debate only ‘how, not if’ homes are built.

Sources said today’s King Speech will include a new Planning Bill which will curb residents’ ability to block controversial developments.

Areas of the Green Belt deemed ‘low quality’ will be re-designated as ‘Grey Belt’ and released for development.

Read Jason’s preview here of today’s King’s Speech:

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage of the King’s Speech to mark the State Opening of Parliament this morning.

King Charles is expected to announce around 35 draft laws as he delivers his first address in Parliament under a Labour government.

New legislation on illegal migration, housing, planning, workers’ rights and railway nationalisation are expected to feature in his address.

The speech is expected to begin around 11:30am.