BRITAIN'S prime minister David Cameron has set out a packed agenda for the next 12 months in the first Conservative-only Queen's Speech for almost 20 years, with bills to pave the way for an EU referendum, devolve powers to the nations and regions of the UK, and ban rises in income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
The prime minister told the House of Commons the package was "a Queen's Speech for working people from a one nation government that will bring our country together".
But interim Labour leader Harriet Harman said the Tory agenda was "unravelling" even before the queen arrived at Westminster, after Mr Cameron omitted an expected Bill to scrap the Human Rights Act and introduce a British Bill of Rights.
The PM declined to say whether he had faced opposition from his own MPs to the repeal of the Act, but assured MPs that he would take action before the end of the Parliament, insisting: "Be in no doubt, we will be introducing legislation and legislating on this issue."
As debate began in the Commons following the pomp and ceremony of the queen's address, Ms Harman indicated that Labour is now "sympathetic" to plans set out in the speech to cut the cap on annual household benefit payments from £26,000 to £23,000 and said her party would also back a bill enabling an in/out referendum on Britain's EU member-ship by the end of 2017.
Jubilant Conservative MPs, buoyed by the overall majority secured in the May 7 general election, mocked the Labour benches over the party's policy shifts since its defeat.
And Mr Cameron made clear that the policies announced represented a full-blown Conservative agenda freed from the shackles of coalition with Liberal Democrats.
He said election victory had given the Tories a mandate for a "clear programme for working people, social justice and bringing our country together", which would deliver full employment, extend the Right to Buy to housing association tenants, increase free childcare and create a "truly seven-day NHS".
Legislative changes will create a "tax lock" barring increases in the rates of income tax, VAT and National Insurance for the next five years, along with a legal requirement for anyone working 30 hours a week or less on the minimum wage to be taken out of income tax altogether, he said.
As well as further devolution for Scotland and Wales, the speech set the scene for further austerity measures to eliminate the national deficit, confirming Chancellor George Osborne's plans to run the first budget surplus in 18 years in 2018/19.