1. What a strange day - Queen’s Speech normally a huge day, this year is basically a warm up for a Tory manifesto because very unlikely any of the measures will pass
2. Govt announces Budget will be Nov 6th - normally also a big deal, expect it might not be then if there is no deal, or indeed if we are already into an election campaign which is also possible
3. Meanwhile it’s all over shadowed by whether there can be a deal with EU in time -
4. Crucially EU has agreed negotiators can keep talking until Weds when they normally say something would have to be done and dusted by today
5. Also matters that EU has signalled NI can leave their customs union legally, and that UK has signalled they’re open to different ways of doing Stormont lock - in other words both sides showing a bit of flex
6. Still feels a very big stretch to imagine a deal being agreed this week given people have been going round this stuff for 3 years - But ... you just never know - ennui has a certain currency
