Westminster shutdown: UK faces political gridlock as the Queen's Speech is delayed

Westminster is facing gridlock as Theresa May could delay the Queen's Speech after failing to secure a majority of MPs in the House of Commons at the general election, it emerged on Monday 12 June.

The statement, delivered by the monarch of the day in the House of Lords (parliament's upper chamber), sets out the government's top priorities over the course of the new parliament, which is due to end on 2022 when the next general election is scheduled under the 2011 Fixed Term Parliament Act.

The policy speech is scheduled for Monday 19 June – when the Brexit talks between the UK and the EU begin – but May is apparently putting it on hold for a "few days", the BBC said.

A Downing Street spokesperson also failed to say that the speech will be delivered on Monday.

"There is going to be an update from the leader of the commons," Number 10 said.

If the speech is delayed, a new parliamentary session cannot begin and MPs cannot get back to work.

The development, another embarrassment for the Tories, comes as the minority government continue to negotiate with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

DUP leader Arlene Foster is expected to hold talks with May in Downing Street on Tuesday 13 June. The potential alliance has proved controversial because of the party's anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage stance.

But former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown apparently attempted to strike a pact with the DUP after the 2010 general election left the UK with a hung parliament. Current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, has promised to put forward an alternative Queen's Speech.

"Parliament must meet and parliament will have to take a decision on what happens, when a government puts forward the Queen's Speech, we will put forward our point of view, we are of course ready to serve," he said.

Brexit Secretary David Davis has heavily hinted that unpopular policies in the Conservative manifesto, including so called "dementia tax", could be cut from the Queen's Speech.

"We have been given an instruction by the people and we are going to carry out. That may mean that some elements of the manifesto may be pruned away," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

The latest Survation poll, of more than 1,000 people on 10 June, put Labour on 45% and the Conservatives on 39%.