Theresa May focuses on Brexit in pared-back Queen's Speech

Theresa May went into the snap election with a pledge to build a "great meritocracy" through an agenda of ambitious domestic reform.

She has come out the other side without a mandate from the public and a very pared back plan.

The Prime Minister put forward a Brexit-heavy legislative programme in her Queen's Speech, with eight bills dedicated to the process of leaving the European Union.

Gone is her "transformative" programme to re-introduce grammar schools, end free school meals for primary school children, hold a vote on fox-hunting, scrap the triple lock on pensions and means test the winter fuel allowance.

:: Queen's Speech - What's in and what's out?

Forced to drop controversial policies that she won't be able to pass through Parliament, Mrs May has also had to significantly water down the central plank of her manifesto - social care reform.

Her plan to force pensioners to pay for residential care until they have just £100,000 in assets is also shelved with a promise to "work to improve social care" and "bring forward proposals for consultation".

There is also no mention of her energy market reform to bring down consumers' bills, although Number 10 could try to push that as a non-legislative measure.

In total, she is putting forward 27 draft bills over the next two years - against the 51 offered up by David Cameron in the 2015 and 2016 parliamentary sessions - in a sign of how constrained she is by the parliamentary maths.

Even with the support of the DUP (the deal is yet to be done), the Prime Minister will only have a working majority of 12, leaving her with a huge task to pass the Queen's Speech through both the Commons and Lords.

The complexity of Brexit has also been underlined as the Government sets out eight bills to deliver Britain's exit from the EU.

In addition to the Repeal Bill to transpose EU legislation into British law is a bill to end freedom of movement and impose immigration controls.

Mrs May has excluded the explicit pledge to reduce immigration to the "tens of thousands", despite saying she wanted to achieve this by the end of this Parliament.

There is also a bill to create a standalone UK customs regime given the Government's promise to leave the EU tariff-free customs union, as well as draft legislature to put in place the framework to strike trade deals around the world.

Meanwhile, there is also a fisheries bill to take control of Britain's waters and a plan to give farmers support as they lose subsidies when the UK leaves the Commons Agriculture Policy.

The Queen's Speech also includes a Nuclear Safeguards Bill to meet international standards as the UK leaves the EU's Euratom nuclear body, and an International Sanctions Bill to ensure Britain complies with international law.

With the controversial elements of her domestic agenda shelved, the Prime Minister is trying to find areas where she can find cross-party agreement.

This includes pushing through a bill to tackle unfair fees on tenants, a crackdown on the "rampant compensation culture" that pushes up insurance premiums and a domestic violence bill which aims to establish a victims' commissioner.

Missing from the speech is news of President Trump's much anticipated state visit, which had been pencilled in for October.

Government sources told Sky News this did not mean it was not going to happen, but the absence of a date casts further doubt on the prospect of a trip this year.

One Tory minister said the number of bills was "not too empty", although is well below the legislative frenzy of Tony Blair's 2005 administration when 45 bills were laid.

A low point came in the final year of the Tory-Lib coalition when the two sides could only agree on 11 bills.

It was a sign of how difficult legislation can be to pass in coalition government and in Mrs May's case, minority government.