YESTERDAY was not a good day for civil liberties.In among the pomp, the circumstance, the flummery and sycophancy at yesterday’s State opening of parliament, the Government announced plans for an extremism bill that a Government Minister has already admitted equates to censorship, the reintroduction of a so-called snoopers’ charter that allows mass surveillance of UK citizens, and an immigration bill that will criminalise undocumented migrants working in the UK and confiscate their earnings.

It was the Queen’s 62nd gracious address. It is a ceremony of tradition and great pageantry. There are horses, military bands, men in costumes with gold braiding. The Queen’s crown gets a carriage all of its own. Guards sweep the basement of the Parliament to make sure that there’s no gunpowder.

Inside of the quads of Palace of Westminster a horse-drawn carriage trots round and round for the entire duration of the Queen’s speech. It is there ready for a quick getaway.

In the debate after the speech SNP MPs were given a row for clapping in the chamber. Speaker John Bercow allowed them to clap three times before interrupting.

He said: “Can I say at the start of the Parliament that the convention that we don’t clap in this chamber is very, very, very long-established and widely respected? And it would be appreciated if members would show some respect for that convention.

They will get their speaking rights from this chair, of that they can be assured. They will be respected but I would invite them to show some respect for the traditions of this chamber of the House of Commons.”

Edinburgh East MP Tommy Sheppard tweeted: “So we’ve just been told off for politely applauding whilst the Tories shout and bray like delinquent children – apologies for being normal.”

It was the first contribution, the SNP leader in Westminster, Angus Robertson has made in a debate since his party became the third largest.

Robertson said: “We will do our best to stand up for Scotland but let me be absolutely clear. We did not win the votes of all voters in Scotland and we are mindful of that. And we still remain supporters of electoral reform and proportional representation.”

Robertson also called for “more information from the Government on their plans to make cuts of £12 billion”.

The Moray MP said: “Who will be affected, will be it be the disabled, like so many impacted by the bedroom tax, or will it be people working on low incomes and in receipt of tax credits?”

The SNP politician also accused the government of kicking plans to repeal the Human Rights Act, “into the longer grass”.

“We will work across this House”, he said, “to protect the Human Rights Act.”

On the EU Referendum Bill, Robertson underlined that the SNP would support yes campaign. He said: “We recognise the importance of the single European market and the ability to influence EU legislation. We look forward to making the case for EU membership and also to reform.”

He added: “We will seek to amend the legislation to ensure that the four nations of the UK cannot be taken out of the EU against the will of their electorate.”

Robertson asked how it could be that “one country, the largest in this family of nations could dictate to everybody else that we have to leave the EU and plough on regardless, that is not mutual respect”.

There did not seem to be much government support for Robertson’s argument.

Dr Paul Arnell, reader in law at Robert Gordon University, welcomed the change in direction from the government around the Human Rights Act: “The UK Government has clearly watered down its human rights proposals. The Conservative Party’s Manifesto contained a clear commitment to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998.

“The Queen’s Speech fails to mention the Human Rights Act at all, instead referring to a promise to bring forward proposal for a British Bill of Rights. It appears clear that the reactions arising from the majority Conservative victory, in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland has caused the Government to think twice.”

Other bills in the legislative plans included the Investigatory Powers Bill to revive plans for a snoopers’ charter, which will give government bodies wide-ranging new tools to collect communications data.

The Extremism Bill will create new banning orders, extremism disruption orders and closure orders, and would give Ofcom the new powers to take pre-emptive action against programmes that included “extremist content”. Former culture minister Sajid Javid, wrote to the Prime Minister when this was being drafted to warn it amounted to censorship.

The Immigration Bill will include plans to criminalise undocumented migrants. There will be more devolution to English cities, and a ban on legal highs. The government also had a bill promising full employment, and a reduction in the welfare cap from £26,000 to £23,000. There Tories also promised that “no one working 30 hours on the minimum wage pays any income tax at all”.

The income tax threshold would be increased to £12,500 – a move ministers say will benefit 30 million people.