In today’s King’ Speech, the King set out the new Government’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary year. The Government promised to be mission-led, with policymaking based on the principles of security, fairness and opportunity for all, with stability as the cornerstone of the economic policy.

Key announcements for Chamber members are summarised below, and keep an eye out for our Friday newsletter where we’ll be analysing in more depth what the King’s Speech means for you.

On business and tax

• A £7.3bn National Wealth Fund will be established, to make transformative investments across the UK, and help simplify the UK’s fragmented landscape of support for businesses and investors
• As part of a new partnership with business and working people in promoting growth, the Government will establish an Industrial Strategy Council
• A New Deal for Working People will be introduced in the next 100 days, through an Employment Rights Bill. This will end fire and rehire, ban exploitative zero-hour contracts, and strengthen other rights for employees
• Legislation will enshrine in law the right to equal pay for ethnic minorities and disabled people and introduce mandatory ethnicity and disability pay reporting for larger employers
• A Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill will be introduced – this will give more powers to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and the Bank of England to respond more effectively to the failure of small banks
• The UK’s product safety and metrology framework will be updated
• A Digital Information and Smart Data Bill will enable new innovative uses of data to be safely developed and deployed, and support a modern digital government
• Bills will be brought forward to strengthen audit and corporate governance, as well as a Pension Schemes Bill to legislate on various areas of the private pensions market

On transport, energy and infrastructure

• A Planning and Infrastructure Bill will seek to accelerate delivery of high quality infrastructure and housing – the majority of this Bill will only apply in England, with some parts extending to Scotland
• The Government will begin the process of reforming rail franchising, establishing Great British Railways and bringing train operators into public ownership
• Great British Energy will be established: a new, publicly-owned energy production company which will own, manage and operate clean power projects up and down the country
• The production of sustainable aviation fuel will be supported through its own Bill, to encourage investment and set targets for fuel suppliers

On skills and education

• Most policies announced in this area will not apply to Scotland, but various measures will be introduced to improve education standards, whilst a Skills England Bill will aim to bring together businesses, providers, unions, Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and national government to simplify and improve the skills system
• The Apprenticeship Levy will be reformed into a Growth and Skills levy

On devolution

• An English Devolution Bill will establish a new framework for English devolution, giving greater decision making powers to local leaders, and introducing new powers and duties for local leaders to produce Local Growth Plans
• A new Council of the Nations and Regions will be established, to renew opportunities for the Prime Minister, heads of devolved governments and mayors of combined authorities to collaborate with each other

Other policy areas

• The safety and security of public venues – including counter-terrorism measures – will be strengthened through delivery of Martyn’s Law
• A Bill will be introduced to progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes
• They will aim to reset the relationship with our European Partners and work to improve our trade and investment relationship with EU
• Modernise the constitution, including reform of the House of Lords, and introducing a duty of ‘candour’ for the public sector

As always, if you would like to speak to the Chamber’s policy team about any of these issues please get in touch at policy@edinburghchamber.co.uk