The King's Speech - What Are Labour Looking To Introduce?
In a speech to Parliament, King Charles outlined the new Labour government’s ambitious legislative agenda for the upcoming year. The plan includes 39 draft laws aimed at addressing various pressing issues and driving economic growth, marking the first steps in Prime Minister Keir Starmer's vision for "national renewal."
Here’s what they’re looking to introduce:
Constitutional Measures
English Devolution Bill
The English Devolution Bill aims to simplify the transfer of more power to elected mayors in combined council areas, while also granting greater authority to metro mayors and combined authorities. These measures are intended to bolster local growth initiatives that foster economic benefits within communities across the country.
Hillsborough Law
The government plans to introduce legislation known as the 'Hillsborough law', inspired by the football stadium disaster, which will enforce a legal duty of candour on public servants.
House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
The government plans to introduce legislation aimed at modernizing the House of Lords by gradually eliminating the presence of hereditary peers. This initiative is part of broader constitutional reforms that seek to update the role of hereditary peers in the Lords, ultimately ending their right to both sit and vote in parliamentary proceedings.
Crime and Borders
Armed Forces Commissioner Bill
The Armed Forces Commissioner Bill will create a commissioner for the armed forces for the armed forces and their families.
Crime and Policing Bill
The Crime and Policing Bill aims to improve community policing efforts and empower police with new tools to combat antisocial behaviour, including making assaults on shopworkers a distinct criminal offence.
Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill
The proposed Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill, drafted by the Conservative Party, aims to implement Martyn's Law. This law mandates that large venues must establish specific procedures to manage the risk of terrorism. Its goal is to enhance the safety and security of public venues across the UK, thereby safeguarding the British public from terrorist threats.
Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill
The new Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill aims to introduce mandatory attendance of sentencing hearings for offenders and to revoke parental rights from child sex offenders. Additionally, plans under this legislation include efforts to halve violence against women and girls and to enhance support for all crime victims.
Employment
Employment Rights Bill
The Employment Rights Bill aims to ban exploitative practices like zero-hours contracts and enhance workers' rights. These measures include making parental leave, sick pay, and protection from unfair dismissal available from day one, strengthening Statutory Sick Pay, establishing flexible working as the default, improving rights for new mothers, and implementing a fair pay agreement for adult social care. The bill reflects a commitment to improving conditions for working people as part of its initial 100-day agenda.
Race Equality Bill
The proposed Race Equality Bill aims to broaden the scope of equal pay protections by extending these rights to ethnic minority workers and disabled individuals under the Equality Act. It also introduces new pay reporting requirements for larger companies.
Energy and Infrastructure
Great British Energy Bill
The Great British Energy Bill will establish a new state-owned energy investment and generation company, GB Energy, headquartered in Scotland. This publicly owned company will focus on accelerating investment in renewable energy, including offshore wind. It will develop, own, and operate energy assets over the parliamentary term.
National Wealth Fund Bill
The National Wealth Fund Bill will establish a fund to invest £7.3 billion in infrastructure and green industry over five years. This fund aims to attract private sector investment, with a target of bringing in £3 of private investment for every £1 of government investment.
Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Revenue Support Mechanism) Bill
The Sustainable Aviation Fuel Bill will aim to support sustainable fuel production for aviation.
Water (Special Measures) Bill
The Water (Special Measures) Bill aims to make private water company bosses personally liable for lawbreaking and to give the water regulator new powers to ban bonuses if environmental standards are not met.
Health and Education
Children’s Wellbeing Bill
The Children's Wellbeing Bill aims to enhance educational standards and support children's welfare in England through several key measures. It will mandate councils to maintain registers of children not in full-time school attendance and fulfil a manifesto pledge to establish free breakfast clubs in all primary schools. Additionally, the bill removes VAT exemption for private school fees, facilitating the funding for 6,500 new teachers. It will also limit the number of branded items of clothing allowed for school uniforms and PE kits.
Conversion Practices Bill
The Conversion Practices Bill will ban conversion practices that plan to change peoples sexual orientation or gender identity.
Mental Health Bill
The Mental Health Bill proposes stricter regulations on sectioning individuals and changing the rules for care for those with learning disabilities. This legislation aims to elevate mental health to the same level of importance as physical health, modernising the Mental Health Act to meet contemporary needs and ensure comprehensive support for mental health issues in the twenty-first century.
Skills England Bill
The Skills England Bill aims to establish a new independent body called Skills England, focused on enhancing and decentralising training efforts across regions. It will foster partnerships with employers and overhaul the apprenticeship levy to better support workforce development and skills training initiatives nationwide.
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
Labour's legislative agenda includes reintroducing the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, initially proposed under Rishi Sunak, to implement a phased ban on smoking. This initiative aims to gradually raise the minimum age for purchasing cigarettes and impose stricter regulations on the sale and marketing of vaping products.
Housing and Planning
Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill
The draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill aims to reduce ground rent for current leaseholders and prohibit the forfeiture of homes over small unpaid debts.
Planning and Infrastructure Bill
The Planning and Infrastructure Bill aims to streamline the approval process for critical infrastructure projects and reform land acquisition rules. It seeks to accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing by ensuring fair but not excessive compensation for landowners, modernising planning committees, and boosting the capacity of local planning authorities.
Renters Rights Bill
The Renters' Rights Bill aims to provide greater rights and protections for renters. It will ban no-fault evictions and extend building safety rules from just social tenants to include private renters, known as Awaab's Law. Additionally, it will reform the grounds for possession to enhance tenant security.
Migration
Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
The Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, is set to see a new Border Security Command be established, empowering police with counter-terror powers to combat migrant smuggling gangs. The legislation aims to expedite the processing of asylum claims, reduce reliance on hotels for housing asylum seekers, and streamline the return process for individuals from safe countries.
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Legacy Legislation
The Northern Ireland Legacy Legislation aims to replace and repeal the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.
Sport
Football Governance Bill
The Football Governance Bill, previously delayed due to elections, aims to establish an independent regulator overseeing the top five divisions of men’s football. It seeks to ensure sustainability in the sport and enhance the protection of fans through comprehensive regulatory measures.
Tax and Spending
Budget Responsibility Bill
The Budget Responsibility Bill mandates that official forecasts must precede Budgets, ensuring transparency and accountability in financial planning. It requires all major tax and spending adjustments to undergo independent evaluation by the Office for Budget Responsibility, aiming to prevent ministers from committing to substantial unfunded spending.
Pension Schemes Bill
The Pension Schemes Bills is set to introduce new rules and requirements for pension schemes in the private sector.
Technology
Digital Information and Smart Data Bill
The Digital Information and Smart Data Bill aims allow people to use digital ID to buy age-restricted products and for things like pre-employment checks
Cyber Security and Resilience Bill
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill is set to bring in new rules to protect critical infrastructure from attackers.
Transport
Better Buses Bill
The Better Buses Bill aims to broaden local leaders' authority in managing bus services, while also lifting restrictions on publicly owned buses to allow local leaders control.
High Speed Rail Bill
The High Speed Rail Bill will bring in powers to build new railway infrastructure in the north of England.
Passenger Railway Services Bill
The Passenger Railway Services Bill will enable the government to renationalise nearly all passenger rail services as current contracts end. This bill fulfils Labour's commitment to bring rail services back into public ownership, aiming to enhance passenger journeys and save taxpayers millions of pounds.
Rail Reform Bill
Rail Reform Bill aims to improve the railways by establishing Great British Railways, a new public body that will oversee both the management of the network and the delivery of passenger services.
