These are 5 key pieces of policies Labour is set to introduce
Today saw the first King’s Speech under a Labour Government for 15 years. The event saw the King lay out the Labour Party’s legislative programme for the current parliament. Here are the five big takeaways.
1. Transforming public transport
The King’s Speech contained two major plans for transforming public transport in the UK.
The first was a commitment to legislate to take the railways back into public ownership. That will end the 30-year privatisation of the railways.
Second, Labour is proposing to introduce a Better Buses Bill which will allow local authorities to regulate their buses. Buses outside of London were de-regulated by Margaret Thatcher, meaning private bus firms have control of which routes they run buses on. At the moment, only areas with a metro-mayor, like Greater Manchester are able to regulate their buses, bringing them under public control.
Both these Bills were trailed in advance and have been welcomed by public transport campaigners.
2. The New Deal for Working People
In advance of the general election, Labour had been promising substantial changes to workers’ rights, branded the ‘New Deal for Working People’. That commitment appears to have been brought forward in the King’s Speech, as an Employment Rights Bill was announced, which it was said would “ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”.
What that legislation means in practice is yet to be set out in detail.
3. Banning conversion therapy
Among the announcements in the King’s Speech was a commitment to bring forward a Conversion Practices Bill. Conversion therapy is a practice in which attempts are made to ‘convert’ LGBT+ people out of their sexuality or gender identity.
Conversion therapy practices have widely been condemned as pseudo-scientific, discriminatory, and – in extreme cases – tantamount to torture.
Labour’s proposed legislation would outlaw these practices.
4. Great British Energy
One of the flagship commitments in Labour’s general election campaign was its proposal to establish a publicly owned energy company – Great British Energy.
The company would be based in Scotland and would be designed to invest in renewable energy production.
Great British Energy featured in the King’s Speech, and so we can expect legislation to bring this forward in the coming months.
5. House of Lords reform
Democratic reform didn’t feature much in the general election campaign. One area that Labour did commit to prioritising though was overhauling the House of Lords.
In the King’s Speech, a new House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill was announced. This legislation would remove the rights of hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords.
While the speech included a commitment to ‘encourage wide participation in the democratic process’, there was no explicit reference to Labour’s manifesto pledge to lower the voting age to 16.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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