The Queen's Speech: What to watch out for

The State Opening of Parliament is fast approaching amid a raft of government U-turns and backdowns.

Somewhat overshadowed by the referendum on the European Union on June 23, it has sneaked up quickly. Other than the tradition and symbolism of the ceremony, the government will announce its plans for the next parliamentary season.

So what can we expect on May 18 and what should Christians in particular look out for?

Are Christians extremists?

The central focus of the Queen's Speech will be a bill to tackle extremism. Cameron will announce measure to ban organisations, silence individuals and close down groups that "promote hatred".

The problem is who will be defined as an extremist.

The Christian Institute said in a statement the "root of concern is a complete lack of definition".

Ciarán Kelly, spokesman for The Institute said: "We don't know who could be caught up in the legislation but certainly it seems if you have an issue with same-sex marriage you could be classed as an extremist".

Kelly said the worry surrounded what the threshold would be for defining an extremist. David Cameron has made clear he wants to tackle the ideology behind extremism. When he announced his counter-extremism strategy last year he said "extremism is really a symptom; ideology is the root cause". The concern for some is what other non-violent ideologies will be targeted by the government's crack down. Kelly said the threshold should be when violence is committed or advocated.

"The government seems to be setting an extremely low threshold. The solution we want to see is a higher threshold where you are labelled an extremist if you advocate violence," he stated.

The bill has already been delayed a number of times and was expected to have been announced by now. It is understood the delay has been caused by the struggle to define "extremism". One suggestion was "vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values", according to the Telegraph. But this was considered too loose a definition to stand up against a legal challenge.

A Home Office source has admitted: "Getting agreement about the thresholds for what constitutes extremism and what needs to be protected as free speech is not going to be easy or straightforward."

When the bill is published it will be particularly key how the government defines extremism and especially what it classes as a "non-violent extremist". As one commentator pointed out, Jesus would probably fall into that category.

Life chances

Prominent Christian MP David Burrowes has hailed the Queen's Speech as an opportunity for a "long-term social justice plan".

He wrote in a blog post: "The emerging consensus is that social justice needs to be the Party's uniting mission after the EU Referendum."

As Cameron looks to rebuild his leadership after the splits caused by the referendum, he will lay out plans for a "period of great social transformation" in the Queen's Speech. As well as securing his place in Number 10 he will also try to ensure the legacy of a moderniser he set out to achieve when he took over the party in 2005 is guaranteed.

In the Sunday Times Cameron promised to overhaul the adoption system in this year's Queen Speech. The government will force courts to favour permanent families rather than distant relatives as the number of adoptions has halved in this past two years. This is because courts have tended to send children to relatives, many of whom are barely known and live miles away from the children.

"Families matter," Cameron declared. He wrote: "I am unashamedly pro-adoption because I believe all children need a loving, permanent and stable home.

"For me, a child's happiness and future life chances will always come above everything else. So we will legislate to tip the balance in favour of permanent adoption where that is the right thing for the child — even when that means overriding family ties."

The adoption charity Home for Good said it welcomed the decision to invest more in adoption. A spokesperson said the charity agreed that "decisions made by government should be child-centred and focused on achieving permanence for each child at the earliest possible stage".

However the charity added that for some children, the best option is foster care.

The spokesperson said: "Home for Good would strongly support the government investing more into foster care alongside adoption, recognising that both offer love and care to vulnerable children."

This is likely to be one of a number of "life chances" features in the Queen's Speech alongside a new care leavers contract to ensure access to housing, health and job support and more powers for prison governors to control their budgets.