King Charles, in a speech to Parliament, presented the legislative agenda of the newly elected Labour government, detailing 39 bills that ministers aim to pass in the upcoming parliamentary session. This comprehensive plan includes new proposals as well as revisions of previously tabled bills that were not passed before the election.
Key Legislative Proposals
Housing and Planning
- Planning and Infrastructure Bill: Streamlines approval processes for critical infrastructure projects and revises land compulsory purchase rules.
- Renters’ Rights Bill: Bans no-fault evictions and extends building safety rules for private renters.
- Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill: Reduces ground rent for existing leaseholders and bans forfeiture over minor unpaid debts.
Energy and Infrastructure
- Great British Energy Bill: Establishes GB Energy, a state-owned energy investment and generation company.
- National Wealth Fund Bill: Creates a £7.3 billion fund for infrastructure and green industry investments over five years.
- Water (Special Measures) Bill: Holds private water company executives personally liable for lawbreaking and enhances regulatory powers.
Transport
- Passenger Railway Services Bill: Allows the government to renationalize nearly all passenger rail services upon contract expirations.
- Railways Bill: Establishes Great British Railways, a body to oversee track and trains.
- Better Buses Bill: Empowers more local leaders to manage bus services.
- High-Speed Rail Bill: Authorises new rail infrastructure in northern England.
Crime and Borders
- Crime and Policing Bill: Grants police new powers to address antisocial behavior and criminalizes assaulting shopworkers.
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill: Enacts Martyn’s Law, requiring large venues to implement anti-terrorism procedures.
- Victims, Courts, and Public Protection Bill: Mandates offenders to attend sentencing hearings and strips parental rights from child sex offenders.
Migration
- Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill: Empowers police to use counter-terror powers against migrant smuggling gangs.
Employment
- Employment Rights Bill: Ban exploitative zero-hours contracts and introduce new worker rights.
- Race Equality Bill: Extends equal pay claims to ethnic minority workers and disabled people, with new pay reporting requirements for large firms.
Health and Education
- Tobacco and Vapes Bill: Gradually bans cigarette sales to anyone born after January 2009.
- Mental Health Bill: Tightens rules on sectioning people and revises care for individuals with learning difficulties.
- Children’s Wellbeing Bill: Requires councils to maintain registers of home-schooled children and promises breakfast clubs for all primary schools in England.
- Skills England Bill: Establishes a new body to regionalize and boost training.
- Conversion Practices Bill: Restricts abusive practices aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity.
Technology
- Digital Information and Smart Data Bill: Allows the use of digital ID for age-restricted purchases and pre-employment checks.
- Cyber Security and Resilience Bill: Introduces new rules to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.
Constitutional Measures
- English Devolution Bill: Simplifies the transfer of powers to elected mayors in combined council areas.
- Bill to Phase Out Hereditary Peers: Gradually removes the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords.
- Hillsborough Law: Imposes a legal duty of candor on public servants following the football stadium disaster.
Tax and Spending
- Budget Responsibility Bill: Ensures official forecasts are conducted before Budgets.
- Pension Schemes Bill: Introduces new rules for private-sector pension schemes.
- Crown Estate Bill: Permits the Crown Estate to borrow from the government for new infrastructure investments.
Additional Bills
- Football Governance Bill: Establishes a regulator for the top five divisions of men’s football.
- Armed Forces Commissioner Bill: Creates a commissioner to inspect military equipment and accommodations.
Missing Legislation
- No specific bill for AI regulation, although ministers promised appropriate legislation.
- No legislation to scrap the two-child benefit cap or reduce the voting age to 16, although Labour is committed to these measures.
- There is no bill to lower the retirement age in the House of Lords, focusing on removing hereditary peers first.
This extensive legislative agenda reflects the Labour government’s commitment to reform and modernization across various sectors, aiming to address pressing social, economic, and infrastructural challenges in the UK.
