I attended the Proclamation in Wokingham marketplace on Sunday.

The Mayor read the Proclamation from the Accession Council to a large crowd who had gathered in the sunshine.

I spent time talking to people after the event. We were all feeling the bitter sweet nature of the occasion. There was great and continuing sadness over the death of a much admired and respected Queen. There were good wishes and hopes for the new King.

Those who stood patiently to the side of the Town Hall had been unable to hear the address but took it in good spirit and were pleased to have witnessed the event. Many wanted to talk to me about the Queen and some had heard my tribute in the Commons where I tried to pass on my understanding of the love and professionalism the Queen displayed in her many visits and ceremonies. They wanted to know more about the sovereign we have lost.

There was general optimism about Charles III and an understanding of the important role a monarch can play at the head of our democratic system of government. In good times and bad the Queen could speak about the things that unite us.

Parliament rightly has adjourned to pay respects to our late Queen and to allow the use of the Palace of Westminster for the solemn proceedings before the funeral around the lying in state. On current plans the House of Commons will not meet again until October 17th.  We need to get back to Parliamentary work sooner than mid October given the shortened September session and given the urgent tasks that await the new government.

There is a need to produce a detailed scheme of help to businesses facing impossible fuel bills. We need to debate and legislate the full package of energy measures to increase supply and ease the cost of living and cost of doing business crises. We want to hear the Chancellor’s Financial Statement and cut the taxes as promised.

MPs will want to hear from the new Home Secretary how she will defeat the dangerous people trafficking across the Channel, and develop the points based migration system. We wish to learn more of the new Health Secretary’s plans to get waiting times down and cut waiting lists. How will a range of Ministers unite to produce a growth strategy?

It is right we show our respects to the late Queen and right Palace and government are united to organise the State funeral. We must then pick up the pace of changing things for the better.

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The King spoke well with a moving tribute to his late mother and his clear pledge to undertake his new tasks in the spirit of public service above politics which informed the Queen for seventy years. At the Privy Council he reaffirmed his wish to uphold our democratic traditions and to be guided by the Parliaments of his realms.

In the coming week the UK Parliament will  rest adjourned in mourning. The Palace of Westminster will  be turned into more of a  fortress than normal  in preparation for the funeral of the Queen and the arrival of numerous Presidents, Heads of State and government from around the world to London for this great and sad occasion. The Queen’s body will lie in state in Westminster Hall in preparation. The external business of government will stop, with politics suspended whilst  the relevant Ministers are involved in the preparations and events surrounding the death of the monarch.The nation mourns with its government until the funeral.

Meanwhile the country wrestles with the energy crisis and the cost of living pressures. It is fortunate that the government was able to make a reassuring statement before these sad events that relief is on its way from unaffordable fuel bills. Behind the closed office doors it is important that work goes on to complete the plans for the energy package and for the promised Financial Statement later this month to follow the period of mourning. Parliament should  return earlier from the planned Conference break to scrutinise and approve measures commensurate with the scale of the challenge to business and families posed by the prices of gas and electricity. Business is suffering now with no protection in place against the surges in energy prices.

The sad end of the Queen’s life will be felt by us all. She has been our Queen all through our lives, a source of stability and a well known presence at our great national events.

Over seventy years of peace and rising national prosperity the Queen brought many subtle changes to the monarchy. She judged the evolving moods and attitudes of the nation. She quietly modernised the way the monarchy works and how we can relate to it. As the titled head  of a class conscious  society in the 1950s, proximity to the court  underwrote that culture. 70 years later the monarchy is more accessible to a  diverse range of people with more relaxed attitudes to etiquette.

She lived for service to her nation, for her family and for the animals and sports that helped enrich her life. Our longest reigning monarch, she ranks alongside Victoria as a long serving Queen who helped create the spirit of an era. The U.K. modernising  and rebuilding after the world war was self consciously the nation of the new Elizabethans. Our Queen throughout her seventy years stayed safely above politics and contentious opinions, the only way to ensure a constitutional monarchy flourishes.

The nation has lost its foremost diplomat and representative. She led the growth and work of the Commonwealth. Everywhere she went and in every country where had a role she created good will and graced many formal and entertaining events. I send my condolences to the royal family who have lost a mother, grandmother and great grandmother.