Jonathan Reed: Sunshine, shadows and a new climate of radicalism that could change the nation

The reason for that is not because it was the first legislative programme to be unveiled by a coalition government for more than 60 years. No, the reason is simple – the good times have gone, and the 6bn of cuts announced 24 hours earlier had given a flavour of how challenging this age of austerity is going to be.

So the programme based on "freedom, fairness and responsibility" may steal the headlines, but many measures will quickly be overshadowed by the cuts which are on their way to restore the gaping budget deficit. Many minds are already focused on the Emergency Budget which will be held in less than a month.

Not that it spoilt David Cameron's big day, his first real Parliamentary occasion as Prime Minister (if you discount his brief appearance at the Dispatch Box when the Speaker was sworn in last week).

How strange it seemed to see him leading Harriet Harman across Central Lobby to hear the Queen's address, rather than cocking an ear and feigning interest in what Gordon Brown had to say to him.

Here was Nick Clegg, dismissed as a political force barely two months ago, listening to a speech which included key sections of his party's election manifesto – and then taking his seat next to Mr Cameron on the Government front bench.

And what a strange sight seeing that great political beast Ken Clarke, with Hush Puppies ditched in favour of full ceremonial robes and

buckled black shoes, breaking with tradition by turning his back on the Queen after presenting her with the speech.

Delve inside the detail – which, admittedly, is still thin on the

ground in some areas – and there is a genuinely radical agenda.

If this programme is enacted in full, the country will have a very different appearance. A Bill allows for the flagship Tory proposals to allow parents and community groups to set up their own schools. Another will see many more becoming academies.

The promises of reform of the benefits and tax systems are bold, and the introduction of installing directly-elected commissioners to hold the police to account is as radical as it is controversial.

This will certainly not be the first new administration to talk of devolving powers to local government and communities, but if this one avoids the mistakes of previous governments and spurns the basic instinct for new Ministers to keep control of their empires, there might be a genuinely exciting opportunity for residents to be able to hold their council to account and find a voice by vetoing council tax rises and demanding a referendum.

The promise of a referendum on voting reform, as unpalatable as it may be to many Tories, would herald a momentous political change if it resulted in a "yes" vote, although voters will have to decide, when they have their say, just how much they like this taste of coalition government or whether the certainty more often offered by a first-past-the-post electoral system is actually more palatable.

Fixed term parliaments, the right to recall MPs, flexible working for all and the scrapping of identity cards and Home Information Packs are

also eye-catching measures that will win broad support.

They are also not accompanied by hefty price tags – the downside with some of Labour's more ambitious policies. Throughout, there was

certainly a slightly more sombre tone than normal given the previous day's announcement of 6.2bn cuts by Chancellor George Osborne and his Chief Secretary David Laws – with a warning that this was only the

start.

While Mr Osborne can claim to have won the argument that tackling the deficit – now standing at about 156bn – is vital to put the economy on a stable footing, even the more hawkish observers will have noted that the list of victims on Monday went far beyond the "waste" and "efficiencies" that Mr Osborne had said that he would find.

With only 95m to save on IT projects, 170m on property costs and 120m on a recruitment freeze – three of the areas the Tories insisted they could find significant savings – the Government was forced instead to order departments simply to hit a target for savings and ditch Child Trust Funds altogether, rather than the Tory commitment simply to means test them, to hit the 6bn jackpot.

Given the 1.2bn snatched from local government budgets, cuts to some services are now surely inevitable, despite all the talk of protecting "frontline" or "key" services. The only question is whether the scalpel or the axe will be the weapon of choice in deciding how to carry out the surgery.

By stating – quite rightly – that the Government's "first priority" is to reduce the deficit and restore economic growth, yesterday's state event confirmed that, while this radical programme has the potential to make long-lasting change, the economy will be the defining feature of this parliament.

Jonathan Reed is the Yorkshire Post's political editor.