King’s Speech: A recap of all you need to know  

What is the King’s Speech?

The King's Speech is delivered by the reigning monarch during the State Opening of Parliament. The speech is written by the Government and outlines the key legislation the Government intends to work on in the coming months.

Budgetary responsibility

At the outset of the King’s speech, the Government announced plans to introduce a Budget Responsibility Bill to ensure that all significant tax and spending changes are subject to an independent assessment by the Office for Budget Responsibility. It is proposed that this will help reinforce market credibility and public trust by preventing large-scale unfunded commitments.

Constitutional reform

The King’s speech outlined plans to introduce measures intended to modernise the constitution, including reform of the House of Lords. The proposed House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill would seek to deliver on the Government’s manifesto commitment to remove the right of the remaining hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. This would be intended as the first step in wider reform to the second chamber.

The Government also committed to proposing a modernisation committee of the House of Commons, tasked with driving up standards, improving work practices and reforming procedures.

Devolution

The speech stated plans to introduce an English Devolution Bill, giving new powers to metro mayors and combined authorities with an intention to support local growth plans that bring economic benefit to communities. This would include empowering local communities with a new ‘right to buy’ for valued community assets, such as empty shops, pubs and community spaces, intended help to revamp high streets and end empty premises.

Further, the Government outlined intentions to establish an Industrial Strategy Council, stating an objective to see rising living standards in all nations and regions in the United Kingdom.

The King additionally stated the Government’s plans to establish a new Council of the Nations and Regions to renew opportunities for the Prime Minister, heads of devolved Governments and mayors of combined authorities to collaborate with each other.

Regarding Northern Ireland, the Government outlined intentions to continue to support the devolved Government and, in consultation with all parties, bring forward measures to begin the process of repealing and replacing the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023.

National Wealth Fund

The National Wealth Fund (NWF) is a key pillar of the Government’s commitment to delivering growth and a greener economy. The Government anticipate that, capitalised with an additional £7.3 Billion, the NWF will make transformative investments across every part of the country - mobilising Billions of pounds worth of additional private sector investment.

The NWF would seek to deploy public and private investment to create jobs and generate shared prosperity across the country. It would also look to simplify the UK’s fragmented landscape of business and investor support by aligning critical institutions like the UK Infrastructure Bank and British Business Bank to enhance the country’s ability to unlock investment from private capital to support the industries of the future.

Corporate governance

A Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill is also expected to be brought forward to strengthen audit and corporate governance. With this draft Bill, a revamped regulator would be expected to uphold standards and independent scrutiny of companies’ accounts, as well as accountability for company directors, requiring better transparency from large companies and aiming to support long-term investment in UK companies.

Artificial Intelligence

The Government has also committed to establishing legislation intended to place additional requirements on those working to develop powerful artificial intelligence models.

People and skills

The Government outlined several legislative plans in regards to people and skills.

Firstly, the speech stated plans to set forth an Employment Rights Bill to introduce a ‘new deal for working people’ intended to ban so-called exploitative practices and enhance employment rights. This Bill is intended to deliver on policies as set out in the Plan to Make Work Pay and includes commitments to:

• Ban zero-hour contracts, ensuring workers have a right to a contract that reflects the number of hours they regularly work and that all workers get reasonable notice of any changes in shift with proportionate compensation for any shifts cancelled or curtailed.
• End ‘Fire and Rehire’ and ‘Fire and Replace’ by reforming the law to provide effective remedies and replacing the previous Government’s statutory code.
• Make parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day 1 on the job for all workers, while continuing to ensure employers can operate probationary periods to assess new hires.
• Strengthen Statutory Sick Pay by removing the lower earnings limit to make it available to all workers as well as the waiting period.
• Make flexible working the default from day-one for all workers, with employers required to accommodate this as far as is reasonable, to reflect the modern workplace.
• Strengthen protections for new mothers by making it unlawful to dismiss a woman who has had a baby for six months after her return to work, except in specific circumstances.
• Establish a new Single Enforcement Body, also known as a Fair Work Agency, to strengthen enforcement of workplace rights.
• Establish a Fair Pay Agreement in the adult social care sector and, following review, assess how and to what extent such agreements could benefit other sectors.
• Update trade union legislation so it is fit for a modern economy, removing unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity – including the previous Government’s approach to minimum service levels – and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining
• Simplify the process of statutory recognition and introduce a regulated route to ensure workers and union members have a reasonable right to access a union within workplaces.

The Government has committed to working in close partnership with trade unions and businesses to invite views on how best to implement these plans.

In addition to the Employment Rights Bill, it is stated that the Government intends to deliver a new living wage which accounts for the cost of living and remove age bands to ensure every adult worker benefits.

The speech also stated that action will be taken to get people back in employment following the impact of the pandemic.

Regarding skills, the Government committed to introducing a ‘Children’s Wellbeing Bill’ intended to raise standards in education and promote children’s wellbeing.

As outlined in the Labour manifesto, the Government also stated plans to bring forward measures to remove the exemption from Value Added Tax for private school fees, which it estimates will enable the funding of six and a half thousand new teachers.

Additionally, a ‘Skills England Bill’ is also proposed with intentions to simplify and improve the skills system, ensure the supply of skills needed for the economy and break down barriers to opportunity. It would also pave the way for the establishment of Skills England by transferring several functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) and reform of the apprenticeship levy.

Skills England would seek to support economic growth by ensuring training programmes are well designed and delivered to meet skills needs and that regional and national skills systems are providing the skilled workforce needed to enable businesses to thrive and to contribute to the aforementioned Industrial Strategy.

It is anticipated that this would include:

• Developing and maintaining a ‘single picture’ of current and future, national and local skills needs to inform the Department for Education’s policy priorities by working with industry, the Migration Advisory Committee, Unions and the Industrial Strategy Council.
• Identifying the training for which the new Growth and Skills Levy will be accessible - this would include consulting on (and maintaining a list of) levy-eligible training to ensure value for money, and that the mix of Government-funded training available to learners and employers aligns with skills needs.
• Ensuring that the national and regional skills systems are meeting skills needs and are aligned, including using local and regional vacancy data as part of a robust evidence base. Skills England would convene Mayoral Combined Authorities and other key stakeholders to identify system issues and provide advice to Government.

It was stated that a Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill will be published to enshrine the full right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people in law and introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers (those with 250+ employees) with an ambition to help close ethnicity and disability pay gaps.

In regard to pensions, plans were outlined in the speech to strengthen pension investment through the introduction of a Pension Schemes Bill. The Government anticipates that this will support over 15 million people who save in private-sector pension schemes to get better outcomes from their pension assets and support its mission to deliver growth. The Bill’s measures include:

• Preventing people from losing track of their pension pots through the consolidation of Defined Contribution individual deferred small pension pots.
• Ensuring all members are saving into pension schemes delivering value through a Value for Money framework.
• Requiring pension schemes to offer retirement products rather than simply savings pots.
• Consolidating the Defined Benefit (DB) market through commercial Superfunds to offer greater protection for members in closed legacy Defined Benefit schemes from the risk of losing part of their pension if their employer becomes insolvent.
• Reaffirming the Pensions Ombudsman (TPO) as a competent court, removing the need for pension schemes to apply to the courts to enforce TPO decisions in relation to the recovery of overpayments.
• Amending the Special Rules for End of Life (Pension Protection Fund and Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS)) extending the definition of 'terminal illness', allowing eligible members within the Pension Protection Fund and the Financial Assistance Scheme to receive a lump sum payment at an earlier stage.

Immigration

The King’s speech outlined Government plans to introduce a Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill intended to modernise the asylum and immigration system, establish a new Border Security Command and deliver enhanced counter terror powers to tackle organised immigration crime. The Bill would seek to clear the asylum backlog to end hotel use and increase returns.

Transport

The speech made a number of announcements related to transport.

The first of these was an announcement that the Government will bring forward legislation intended to improve the country’s railways by reforming rail franchising, establishing Great British Railways and bringing train operators into public ownership through the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill and the Rail Reform Bill. The Government anticipates that transferring operations to the public sector will save the taxpayer millions of pounds that are currently paid out in fees to private-sector operators each year. It is anticipated that train operations will transfer to a public-sector operator as existing contracts expire or operators fail to meet their commitments

It was also announced that a Better Busses Bill will be introduced to allow local leaders to take control of local bus services. The Government intends that this Bill will deliver improved services across the country and support local leaders to develop the transport networks that are right for their communities.

Infrastructure planning

The Government announced plans introduce a Planning and Infrastructure Bill to address the constraints posed by current planning regulation by implementing reform to accelerate the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and housing. The Bill would seek to improve local planning systems, modernise planning committees and increase local planning authorities’ capacity to deliver an improved service. The Planning and Infrastructure Bill intends to accelerate housebuilding and infrastructure delivery by:

• Streamlining the delivery process for critical infrastructure: This would include upgrading the national grid, boosting renewable energy, delivering the 2030 clean power mission and net zero obligations and securing domestic energy security.
• Reforming compulsory purchase compensation rules: Aiming to ensure fair compensation for landowners affected by the implementation of key social and physical infrastructure, which the Government anticipates would unlock more sites for development.

Energy and environment

The King’s Speech made clear that climate change is a key component of this Government’s agenda, highlighting the urgency of the climate challenge and job opportunities associated with the development of technologies of the future.

The speech outlined plans to bring forward a Greater British Energy Bill, setting up Great British Energy - a publicly owned clean power company which is intended to accelerate investment in renewable energy such as offshore wind. Great British Energy would be expected to develop, own and operate its own assets and facilitate, encourage and participate in the production, distribution, storage and supply of clean energy.

The Government also outlined plans to introduce a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Revenue Support Mechanism) Bill intended to support sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production in the UK by providing revenue certainty to encourage investment in the construction of SAF plants across the UK.

The speech further outlined plans to introduce a Water (Special Measures) Bill intended to strengthen the powers of the water regulator. The Bill would seek to strengthen regulation to ensure water bosses face personal criminal liability for lawbreaking, give the water regulator new powers to ban the payment of bonuses, boost accountability for water executives and bring automatic and severe fines for lawbreaking.

Housing

Through the introduction of a new Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the Government would seek to unlock more opportunities for development of housing to support sustained economic growth. It anticipates that the aforementioned compulsory purchase compensation rules would support the delivery of more affordable housing in line with objectives to deliver more social infrastructure and address the housing crisis.

The Government also announced plans to introduce legislation to give greater rights and protections to renters, including ending no-fault evictions and reforming of grounds for possession. Finally, it was announced that there will be draft legislation proposed on leasehold and commonhold reform.

Health

The Government set out plans to prioritise making improvements to the National Health Service, focusing on reducing waiting times.

Plans were announced to introduce a Mental Health Bill to modernise the Mental Health Act 1983, alongside a commitment to enhance mental health services and ensure that care for mental health and physical health are of equal priority.

The Government also announced plans to introduce a Tobacco and Vapes Bill to increase the age for purchasing cigarettes and to regulate the sale and marketing of vapes. Key measures in the Bill would include:

• Introducing a progressive smoking ban to gradually end the sale of tobacco products across the country (including herbal smoking products and cigarette papers). This would mean that children born on or after 1 January 2009 would never be able to legally be sold cigarettes.
• Stopping vapes and other consumer nicotine products (such as nicotine pouches) from being deliberately branded and advertised to appeal to children.
• Allowing Trading Standards to take swifter action to enforce the law and closing loopholes, preventing underage sales of tobacco and vapes by providing enforcement authorities in England and Wales with the power to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for the underage sale of tobacco and vaping products.

Finally, draft legislation has been proposed to ban conversion practices. This would propose new criminal offences to target acts of conversion practices that are not captured by existing legislation.

Policing

It was stated in the speech that legislation (a Crime and Policing Bill and a Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill) will be introduced with the intention of strengthening community policing, giving the police greater powers to deal with anti-social behaviour and strengthening support for victims.

It is also anticipated that measures including a Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill (otherwise known as Martyn's Law) will be introduced with a view to improving the safety and security of public venues and helping keep the British public safe from terrorism.

Further, the Government announced that they intend to bring forward plans to halve violence against women and girls.

International security and trade

The King’s speech stated the Government’s intentions to remain committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and maintain a strong Armed Forces, including a nuclear deterrent. It also stated that a Strategic Defence Review will be conducted to ensure that the UK’s defence capabilities are reflective of the changing nature of global strategic threats.

In regard to the Armed Forces, the speech further stated that an Armed Forces Commissioner Bill will be introduced to establish a statutory Armed Forces Commissioner intended to act as an independent champion for the Armed Forces and their families.

The Government additionally used the speech to pledge continuation of its ‘full support’ of Ukraine and its people, and that it will endeavour to play a leading role in providing Ukraine with a clear path to NATO membership.

It was also stated that the Government will seek to improve the United Kingdom’s trade and investment relationship with the European Union. Further, the Government intends to seek a new security pact with the EU to strengthen cooperation on mutual threats.

In regard to the Middle East, the King’s speech stated that the Government intends to ‘play its part’ in trying to secure long term peace and security in the Middle East.

Football regulation

The King’s Speech also announced plans to bring forward a Football Governance Bill to protect football clubs across England, ensuring their financial sustainability and giving fans a greater say in the way their clubs are run. It would also seek to ensure that clubs can’t be syphoned off from the English football pyramid to set up their own closed league while providing the certainty and sustainability required to drive future investment and growth.

What is the GBCC response to the King’s Speech 2024?

The King’s Speech has outlined the legislative priorities the Government is expected to focus on in the coming months to meet the pledges of their election manifesto and drive economic growth.

Commitments were made that may go some way to ease labour shortages, such as those to get people back into employment post-Covid and reform the apprenticeship levy.

The Government also set out legislative plans intended to unlock investment in energy infrastructure and reform the planning system – the latter being a recommendation of our Business Commission West Midlands’ Roadmap for Business Growth.

Similarly, commitments to improve trading relationships with the European Union very much heed the calls of industry.

The revival of industrial strategies is very much welcomed and will hopefully allow businesses greater certainty on the direction of travel. However, it will be critical to ensure that these have meaningful impact once developed.

Changes to the Government’s proposed ‘new deal for working people,’ were the cause of some dispute earlier in the year. The legislative plan set out today remains steadfast in its commitment to ban zero-hour contracts and increase day-one rights, which may raise some concerns among employers and will require detailed consultation with industry.

Notably, and perhaps most disappointingly for businesses, significant tax reforms – including the pledged abolition of business rates – did not feature in the speech.

Our latest Quarterly Business Report highlights the unrelenting cost pressures Greater Birmingham Businesses are currently under, driven primarily by labour costs. Reducing cost pressures to unlock firm-led investment needs to be a priority if we are to see significant economic growth.