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LONDON – This is the list of new laws Rishi Sunak hopes will save his skin come election-time.
Tuesday’s King’s Speech — in which King Charles III read out the British government’s legislative agenda for the crucial pre-election term ahead — was packed with promises from Sunak’s Conservative Party.
With the clock ticking down to an election which must be held before the end of January 2025, the King’s Speech was a chance for Sunak to set out his priorities and draw dividing lines with the opposition Labour Party, who are ascendant in the polls.
The speech was divided under three headers — “strengthening society,” “growing the economy” and “keeping people safe.” Beyond that boilerplate, there was plenty to get stuck into.
Here’s POLITICO’s bill-by-bill guide to what’s just been announced, what it all means — and how likely it is to trigger a political bunfight.
‘Growing the economy’
Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill
What’s the point? An immediate election dividing line. Under this law the North Sea Transition Authority will be forced to invite annual applications for new oil and gas drilling licenses in the U.K.’s offshore waters — with some conditions which nod to Britain’s net zero target. The government argues home-grown fossil fuels are cleaner than relying on imports, so the law will continue to apply as long as the U.K. looks set to import more oil and gas than it extracts.
The plan will be popular with many Conservatives and opposed by Labour, which has promised no new drilling licenses in the North Sea for environmental reasons. A backlash from green groups is inevitable. The government’s notes do not repeat Rishi Sunak’s controversial claim that this will cut energy bills.
Bust-up potential: 7/10.
Trade (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) Bill
What’s the point? Britain is joining a major new trade pact with countries in the Pacific and this bill takes care of the legalities when it takes force in the U.K. next year — giving the bloc’s 11 members greater access to British government contracts, and cementing work on marks of origin and copyright.
Government notes say the deal “could mean” cheaper Mexican honey and Malaysian vacuum cleaners. Campaigners may object to details but the reaction in SW1 has been pretty sanguine — though in its current form, CPTPP membership is projected to add just 0.06 percent to Britain’s long-term GDP.
Bust-up potential: 3/10
Automated Vehicles Bill
What’s the point? This will set the legal framework for self-driving vehicles — including only allowing those that “can follow all road traffic rules,” setting up fines and corrective action for firms if things go wrong, and establishing an accident investigation regime.
People will also be given immunity from prosecution if they are sitting behind the wheel when a self-driving vehicle crashes. Public nervousness is likely, but the industry has been pushing hard for legislation and this sets a high bar before a car is deemed to be driving itself.
Bust-up potential: 4/10
Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill
What’s the point? The mammoth 386-page Bill — one of six “carried over” from the last session — veers from retail politics (cracking down on subscription rip-offs) to regulating Big Tech.
A small number of the most powerful tech firms would be given “strategic market status” by the Competition and Markets Authority, putting them under tough new rules governing their conduct and mergers — with whopping fines worth up to 10 percent of global turnover for breaches. Expect furious lobbying from tech firms against this bill to continue, especially given Sunak’s bid to portray himself as a tech bro welcoming innovation.
Bust-up potential: 5/10
Data Protection and Digital Information Bill
This key “benefits of Brexit” bill is another hangover from the last parliamentary session. It’s already made pretty good progress, having gone through laborious line-by-line scrutiny by MPs. The aim is to reduce data protection burdens now Britain is outside the EU, including promises to cut down on “user consent” pop-ups and “cookies” banners. The main opposition concern is that Britain doesn’t jeopardize its so-called adequacy deal with the EU to allow data to flow freely across borders.
Bust-up potential: 6/10
Media Bill
What’s the point? Newspaper editors’ corks will pop when this long-planned bill repeals a reform that came in the wake of the wide-ranging Leveson Inquiry into press standards. Never enacted, the original law would have forced media outlets that did not sign up to a specific regulator to pay both sides’ costs in a court dispute — even if they won.
The bill also aims to ensure public service TV channels are always available on streaming sites — and regulator Ofcom will enforce a “video on demand code” for services like Netflix. But the most controversial proposals, like privatizing Channel 4, have long since been dropped.
Bust-up potential: 2/10
Arbitration Bill
What’s the point? To fine-tune the 27-year-old law on dispute resolution after recommendations by the Law Commission in September. Government notes even partially copy-and-paste from that review.
Changes would let arbitrators speed up decisions in a wide range of settings, from family law to shipping, if an issue has “no real prospect of success” — and make it harder to sue arbitrators unless they are shown to be unreasonable or acting in bad faith.
Bust-up potential: 1/10
Draft Rail Reform Bill
What’s the point? This is the only “draft” bill in government notes — giving it only a vanishing chance of passing before the election. It would complete a pledge to set up a new agency, Great British Railways, to manage private franchises, reform ticket pricing, find unspecified “savings” and complete a reform process outlined in 2021.
But reforms to the railways have always been hugely controversial with unions. Recent plans to shutter up to 974 ticket offices were scrapped after an outcry — and it’s hard to know if this one will ever happen either.
Bust-up potential: 6/10
‘Strengthening society’
Tobacco and Vapes Bill
What’s the point? Bad news for edgy teens — this new bill promises to “create the first smoke free generation,” and means anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, will “never be able to be legally sold cigarettes,” as the legal smoking age is progressively raised.
The government is also muling new regulations to “reduce the appeal and availability” of vapes to children. The opposition Labour Party supports the idea (and has a decent claim tohaving pitched it first ) — even if libertarian think tanks complain of state overreach.
Bust-up potential: 3/10
Leasehold and Freehold Bill
What’s the point? Housing Secretary Michael Gove has called leasehold — a system that sees homeowners buy only temporary rights to their property and pay ground rent to landowners — an “outdated feudal system that needs to go.” But this bill shies away from scrapping the system outright, and instead promises a series of reforms to give homeowners a “fairer deal.” Standard leases will be made much longer and ground rent will be slashed to zero when people renew — while new leasehold houses will be banned. It’s a big shake-up — but expect Labour, and some Tory MPs — to argue it simply doesn’t go far enough.
Bust-up potential: 6/10
Renters Reform Bill
What’s the point? This bill promises to make good on the Conservative pledge to scrap “no fault evictions” — albeit with massive caveats. The government says it will only end the controversial rule allowing landlords to boot out tenants at short notice once “stronger possession grounds and a new court process is in place” — Whitehall-speak for kicking the can down the road.
The bill even throws in new protections for landlords, making it easier for them to “evict anti-social tenants” — although tenants will have “the right to request a pet.” A caucus of Tory MPs who are also landlords are likely to be pleased, but expect housing campaigners to be up in arms.
Bust-up potential: 8/10
Football Governance Bill
What’s the point? This bill promises to set up a new independent football regulator to tackle “systemic financial issues” in the beautiful game and introduce new tests for owners and directors. It’s been a long time in the works, and comes after high-profile cash woes at a host of English clubs, particularly below the top-flight Premier League.
Expect broad support for a plan that Labour too has promised to enact — although Tory peer and West Ham United Vice Chairman Karren Brady has warned against “messing with an industry which works better than most.”
Bust-up potential: 3/10
Pedicabs (London) Bill
What’s the point? Love them or hate them, rickshaws are an inescapable fact of life around London’s tourist traps.
This bill could change all that, handing power to Transport for London to regulate pedicabs in the capital, including controlling fares, requiring licenses and ordering criminal record checks. Few MPs who spend any time walking around the capital are likely to object.
Bust-up potential: 2/10
Holocaust Memorial Bill
What’s the point? This will scrap restrictions on building a Holocaust memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens, which sits in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament.
The bill sailed through second reading in the Commons unopposed back in June, although there has been some criticism that the planned memorial will also commemorate victims of other global genocides.
Bust-up potential: 2/10
Economic Activities of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill
What’s the point? Despite the benign title, this one could get heated. It makes good on a Tory manifesto pledge to “ban public bodies from imposing their own boycotts, divestment or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries” — with a clear eye on local councils who have chosen to target Israel.
While the bill applies to “all countries equally,” some in Labour see it as an attempt to draw a dividing line with the opposition, which remains deeply conflicted over its response to the Israel-Hamas war. And some Tory MPs fear it’ll only inflame tensions.
Controversy potential: 9/10
Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill
Another bill to show Britain is capitalizing on post-Brexit benefits. This bans the live exports of cattle, pigs, goats, sheep and horses for slaughter.
In practice it may not make much difference — no animals have been exported live for slaughter since the government announced its intention in 2021. Live animals will still be able to travel to be bred or for competitions.
Bust-up potential: 5/10
‘Keeping people safe’
Sentencing Bill
Keeping offenders who commit the most horrific murders, such as those with sexual or sadistic motives, behind bars for the rest of their lives is just one of a raft of populist law and order measures Sunak hopes will be vote-winners at the next election.
The opposition Labour Party is unlikely to oppose it — they also want to be seen to be tough on law and order — but they will make great play about a lack of prison places. Prison reform campaigners will be deeply unimpressed.
Bust-up potential: 5/10
Criminal Justice Bill
Plenty more tough-on-crime election fodder here. A pick-and-mix of measures from compelling defendants to attend hearings to tougher sentencing for grooming gangs, criminalizing the sharing of intimate images and allowing police to seize phones found via GPS without a warrant. Some have raised concern about the practicality of forcing criminals to attend sentencing hearings — but it’s a highly popular measure.
Bust-up potential: 5/10
Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill
This bill could set the stage for another huge battle with Big Tech. The proposed law, which updates the highly controversial 2016 Investigatory Powers Act, could clear the way for ministers to block multinational tech companies from rolling out things like end-to-end encryption on messaging apps.
The government insists it is making “limited and targeted” reforms to aspects of the 2016 Act, such as on data use and security service oversight — but privacy campaigners are unlikely to go down without a fight.
Bust-up potential: 9/10
Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill
Also known as Martyn’s Law, this bill will ensure concert venues, and other organizations, will have to meet certain new criteria to mitigate the impact of a terrorist attack. It was published in draft form in the last session. It comes amid concerns about the response to the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017, where Martyn Hett, after whom the draft law is named, was killed alongside 21 others.
There will be concerns about the additional health and safety burdens it puts on the entertainment industry, and local authorities want more cash to help them implement it — but politically few disagree that a better response to terror attacks is needed.
Bust-up potential: 3/10
Victims and Prisoners Bill
Another bill carried over from the last session, this puts a code for the way victims should be treated on a statutory footing and controversially gives ministers “greater oversight” of the release of the most serious offenders, such as murderers, rapists and terrorists.
The Prison Reform Trust reckons the bill undermines the independence of the Parole Board. It also brings in “Jude’s Law,” which automatically suspends parental responsibility following a murder conviction.
Bust-up potential: 6/10
Any other business?
Given this is the last King’s Speech before the election, there will be plenty of focus on what’s not in it — from a much-hyped Pensions Reform Bill, to a long-promised (but fiercely opposed by some Tory backbenchers) ban on LGBT+ conversion therapy.
At the same time, the government is choosing to shout about some measures that are not in the King’s Speech but where it spies important reforms or political advantage anyway. These include a draft rail reform bill, and minimum service levels for striking rail, ambulance and border workers which are being published today via secondary laws.
And of course, the entire program could be abandoned mid-stream if an election — which most expect in October 2024 — is instead called in early May. Buckle up.
