Earlier this week, within the King’s Speech of the State Opening of Parliament, King Charles has set out this Government’s legislative programme for coming months.
This government’s agenda is intended to break with the status quo that has previously failed working people by taking action to build resilience, spread opportunity and to build a stronger and fairer country for all.
In the first session of Parliament, Labour passed 50 new pieces of legislation, each of which fulfilled our manifesto commitment to turn the page and build the foundations of change for working people, including:
- The Employment Rights Act, the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation
- The Passenger Public Services (Public Ownership) Act, establishing Great British Rail – a publicly owned and accountable body to improve rail services and keep fares low
- The Great British Energy Act, establishing a publicly owned organisation to bring clean energy and cheaper bills to British consumers and industry
- The Renters Rights Act, providing renters with security and dignity in housing by outlawing no-fault evictions amongst other protections for private renters
- The Removal of Two Child Limit Act, lifting 450,000 children out of poverty and providing security to working families by removing the arbitrary two-child benefit cap
- The Water (Special Measures) Act, reversing the Tory decline in environmental standards and accountability in the water industry, empowering consumers and holding water bosses to account
- The Crime and Policing Act, tackling violence against women and girls, antisocial behaviour and retail crime, and rebuilding public confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system
- The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, making good on our promise to give back control to local communities and provide mayors with unprecedented powers to deliver growth.
Now, within this second parliamentary session, Labour is seeking to:
Strengthen our economic security:
- Remove the barriers to growth by adopting an industrial strategy to create more high paid jobs, with an apprenticeships plan to match, and an economic plan that is driving down inflation and interest rates.
- Introduce bills covering European Partnership, Nuclear Regulation, Competition Reform, Highways Financing, Commonhold and Leaseholders’ Rights, Steel and Clean Water to address these challenges.
- Protect critical industries vital to the UK’s resilience and act decisively to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis for families.
End the opportunity crisis:
- Empower people to seize opportunities to enjoy and improve their lives.
- Fight for every child to have the chance to go as far as their talent and effort will take them.
- Introduce Bills on Education for All, Commonhold and Leaseholders’ Rights, and Social Housing Renewal.
Strengthen our energy security:
- Help families with the cost of bills and make UK more resilient to energy price shocks.
- Protect UK against energy price shocks for long term through Energy Independence Bill and Nuclear Regulation Bill.
- Protect households and industry from global instability with clean, homegrown energy independence.
Strengthen our national security:
- Tackle extremism wherever it appears, including where it is sponsored by hostile states such as Iran.
- Deliver a firm but fair immigration system that restores control and earns public trust.
- Introduce bills strengthening National Security, Cyber Security and Resilience and the Armed Forces, as well as our Immigration and Asylum systems, and Tackling State Threats.
- Build back the sense of pride we’ve lost in our local communities, and returning a sense of security and control to working people.
Strengthen and reform the state and public services:
- Rebuild stronger public services, which actively support working people and address their needs to build a more resilient country for all.
- Introduce the NHS Modernisation Bill, Digital Access to Services Bill, Public Office (Accountability) Bill, and Police Reform Bill.
- Rebuild an active state, on the side of the British people, that can help to end the opportunity crisis and help build a Britain built for all.
Commenting, Stephen Morgan, MP for Portsmouth South, said:
“The Government is making these decisions with a clear aim: a fairer society that lifts living standards and widens opportunity for everyone. It will level with the public about trade-offs and investments we need to make.
“I know Portsmouth people will recognise that there are no silver bullets, but under this Government and through this programme for change decline is being reversed, opportunity and pride can be restored, the future can be better for your family, and politics can be a force for good”.
The agenda and forthcoming legislation set out within the King’s Speech can be read about in further detail here.
