I'm backing the Queen's Speech tomorrow

There are a total of eight bills which focus on the UK’s exit from the European Union. The Repeal Bill will provide as much legal certainty as possible for businesses and individuals as we depart the bloc. A Trade Bill and a Customs Bill will help the UK conduct its own independent trade policy - the first time we’ll have been able to do this in decades - which will help British businesses trade with thriving markets around the world.

Also included are an Immigration Bill which will give the UK control of the number of people coming to this country from Europe while allowing us to continue attracting the brightest and the best, as well as a Fisheries Bill, an Agriculture Bill, a Nuclear Safeguards Bill and an International Sanctions Bill.

There are, of course, a host of other areas for Parliament to scrutinise the work of the Government. A cause I’ve mentioned in the Commons previously is reform to mental health policy.

It’s more than an issue of the Government increasing spending on mental health to a record £11.4 billion in 2016-17 (with a further investment of £1 billion every year by 2020-21), there has also been an 80 per cent reduction in the number of people being detained in police cells in England since 2011-12 because of mental ill health.

There is more to be done in this regard and I look forward to making further representations with ministers.

The very first duty of any Government is the safety and security of the British people at home and abroad. The UK will continue to meet the NATO target to spend at least 2 per cent of our GDP on defence until 2022 and increase spending by at least half a per cent more than inflation every year.

The British armed forces lead the world in their bravery and heroism, and our whole country has a duty to remember their courage. This was at the forefront of my mind last Saturday during the Armed Forces Day commemoration in the Memorial Gardens. We will never forget their service.