Queen Says U.K. Will Focus On Growth, Deficit Reduction

Queen Elizabeth II says the new coalition government's priority will to be to reduce Britain's deficit and restore growth to the struggling economy.

Amid pageantry and pomp, the monarch formally opened the new parliamentary session today by outlining the new government's austere plans.

It is Britain's first coalition government since World War II and resulted from a pact between the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats after elections produced no majority winner.

The government led by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has drawn up an 18-month program that includes steps to reduce Britain's record $235 billion budget deficit.

compiled from agency reports