A raft of new laws – including measures on oil and gas licences, the establishment of a new football regulator, and moves to phase out cigarette smoking – have been included in the King’s Speech.
The proposed legislation was announced by King Charles III as he addressed Parliament in his first State Opening, as the monarch set out Rishi Sunak’s government’s policy agenda for the year ahead.
It is the first such speech King Charles III has made since assuming the throne last year. It is also the first of Mr Sunak’s tenure in No 10 – and most likely the last prior to an expected general election next year.
The speech revealed Mr Sunak’s plans to make law and order a key election battleground, with a series of measures promising tougher sentences for killers and rapists.
Mr Sunak has also introduced new legislation to expand the use of self-driving vehicles – which clear the way for buses and lorries to operate autonomously by the end of the decade.
‘No excuse’ for kicking no-fault eviction ban into long grass, says Shelter
Shelter has warned that the government cannot be allowed “to play politics” with banning no-fault evictions, hitting out at a “ludicrous” decision to halt the long-awaited measure until court reforms are first in place.
Polly Neate, the charity’s chief executive, said: “Forcing renters to wait until unspecified court reforms take place to ban Section 21 no fault evictions is ludicrous. We cannot allow the government to play politics with this essential reform and give in to a small minority of landlords on its own backbench while so many renters continue to suffer.
“For England’s 11 million private tenants who live with the constant threat that they’ll be served a no-fault eviction and given just two months to find a new home, loose promises and unspecified timeframes are not going to cut it.
“With timings for court proceedings back to pre-pandemic levels, there’s no excuse for kicking a ban on no fault evictions into the long grass. If the government plans to keep its promises to renters, then it needs to pass a watertight Renters (Reform) Bill without caveats or loopholes and set out a clear timeline of when unfair evictions will be banned.”
Watch live as parliament debates agenda set out in King Charles III’s speech
You can watch live in the article below, as parliament debates the government’s legislative agenda set out by King Charles III at the state opening of parliament.
Rishi Sunak insisted he has “turned the corner” to put the country on a better path as he set out his pre-election stall in the King’s Speech to present challenges for Sir Keir Starmer:
Government will consider any application to stop pro-Palestine march
Rishi Sunak believes a pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day would be “provocative and disrespectful”.
The PM’s official spokesman said operational decisions on whether to ban the planned march in London were for the Metropolitan Police. But the spokesman said the Government would “carefully consider” any application to prevent the march.
“The prime minister himself does not think it’s right for these sorts of protests to be scheduled on Armistice Day,” the spokesman said. “He believes that is provocative and disrespectful.”
Gaza, smoking and crime: Key points from King Charles’s State Opening speech
Sunak plan is ‘ambitious’, insists former Tory minister
Senior Tory Andrea Leadsom told The Independent: “I thought the King’s Speech was ambitious in seeking to make an improvement in people’s lives – from the law and order measures, including making sure people who have committed horrendous crimes serve full life sentences, to the renters reform bill and leasehold bill which will be valuable in giving people greater security in their home.”
The former cabinet minister added: “The energy security measures get the balance right between keeping the lights on and keeping the bills down whilst still decarbonising faster than any other G7 nation.”
‘No proper ambition’ from government, says Labour
Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government’s legislative programme was “thin” and lacked “proper ambition”.
She told Sky News there was “no serious plan on growth, no serious plan on the cost of living crisis, no serious plan to tackle the waiting lists in the NHS”.
Ms Cooper also accused Rishi Sunak of presiding over “chaos”, adding: “This lot are total chaos and it’s really damaging and unfair for the country.”
Deputy PM to lead Cobra meeting
Oliver Dowden will chair a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to consider the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict in the UK.
Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman said “it will look a wide range of areas but it’s obviously particularly focused on the impact of the terrorist attack on the UK domestically” and how to address important issues around “community cohesion”.
‘Total moral failure’ on conversion therapy ban, says ex-adviser
Jayne Ozanne, the former government LGBT+ adviser who now leads the Ban Conversion Therapy coalition, is angry at Rishi Sunak for ditching the promised ban on efforts to change people’s sexuality or gender identity.
“To break your flagship promise to a community that has seen a significant rise in hate crime is a total moral failure,” she told The Independent. “To do so after five years of posturing, with minimal engagement with victims of ‘conversion therapy’, shows just how callously the government treats LGBT+ lives.
Ozanne added: “The prime minister’s failure to act will be remembered for years to come, it will take generations for LGBT+ people to trust his party again.”
No 10 dodges questions on whether ban on tents for homeless could be legislated
Downing Street has declined to say whether action to try and prevent people sleeping on the streets in tents would eventually be included in the Criminal Justice Bill
Asked whether this could still be added, Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman told reporters at a Westminster briefing: “It’s not for me to get into setting out the details of what will or will not be included.
“We’ve set out our focus for this Bill already. As with all these Bills, there will be further details set out when they are brought to the House.
“We’ve said that no-one should be criminalised for having nowhere to live and we are repealing the outdated Vagrancy Act. We want to go as far as possible to ensure that those who are vulnerable can get the support they need and obviously at the same time cracking down on anti-social, intimidating or indeed criminal behaviour.”
