Boris Johnson will today use the Queen’s Speech, setting out the priorities of his “People’s Government,” to underline the “utmost importance of the integrity and prosperity of the United Kingdom”.

The key message will coincide with Nicola Sturgeon’s renewed demand for a second vote on Scotland’s future, which will again be forcefully rebuffed by the Prime Minister.

The programme for the new Tory Government is not expected to contain any surprises and is, for the most part, the same as the one announced in October at the end of the last Parliament.

However, in light of the General Election it will contain legislative commitments to finish the EU trade deal by December 2020 in the new Withdrawal Agreement Bill and pour more money into the NHS in England in an NHS Funding Bill; some £33.9bn by 2023/24, which will, in itself, mean £3bn a year more for the Scottish Government in that year.

Speaking to nurses at a Downing Street reception, Mr Johnson described the NHS as the “single greatest institution in this country and it’s absolutely vital that we as political leaders, all kinds and all levels, understand what is going on in the NHS. You are doing an incredible job”.

Acknowledging the enormous pressures and demands on the NHS, the PM stressed how the Conservative Government was putting the largest investment into the public service in living memory.

“We have to keep that investment going. We have to keep supporting you. I would like to thank you for everything you do,” said Mr Johnson.

In his Commons address on the Queen’s Speech the PM will set out the Government’s plans to make 2020 a “year of opportunity, growth and unity for Scotland, not of further division”.

He will refer to the investment going into Scotland, including £1.4bn in city and growth deals, a £1.2bn cash windfall on the back of the latest spending round and an additional £211 million for Scottish farmers.

Downing St pointed out how the Gracious Speech would underline how a second independence referendum next year would be a “damaging distraction, that would undermine the decisive result of the 2014 referendum and the promise made to the Scottish people that it was a once-in-a-generation vote”.

The Government programme will aim to “unite and level up the country with wide-ranging domestic reform,” including increasing pupil funding in England, measures to ensure terrorists spend longer behind bars and to end vexatious clams against Armed Forces members.

Meanwhile, the SNP produced its own “alternative Queen’s Speech,” 12 bills that would facilitate an independence referendum, raise healthcare spending in England to the level it is in Scotland, scrap Trident and begin the process of abolishing the House of Lords.

Ian Blackford – who was re-elected as Westminster leader unanimously by his parliamentary colleagues – said: “The SNP Alternative Queen's Speech sets out our priorities to ensure Scotland's right to choose our own future is respected, to protect our NHS, end austerity, boost our economy, and deliver real action to tackle the climate emergency.”