But what in the King’s Speech will deliver the most impact to the UK population?
Here are just some of the key takeaways from Labour’s plan for the coming months.
Abolishing no-fault evictions
Labour pledged through the King’s Speech to end Section 21 evictions, also known as no-fault evictions, in order to “give greater rights and protections to people renting their homes”. Studies have found that a failure to end no-fault evictions put more than 80,000 households at risk of homelessness in five years.
Campaigners have welcomed the end to no-fault evictions, but many have warned that the proposed new legislation doesn’t go far enough to protect renters, and that “unaffordable rent increases” continue to be an issue.
Tom Darling, campaign manager at the Renter’s Reform Coalition, told Big Issue: “This bill will finally end Section 21 evictions, but if it is to ‘decisively’ rebalance the private rented sector, it is crucialthat new landlord possession grounds are not open to abuse, and provide maximum protections for tenants so that every possible effort is taken to reduce the huge harm caused by evictions.”
He added that the best way to help renters facing rent increases is to introduce a “cap on in-tenancy rent increases, at the lowest of inflation or wage growth”.
“On a day where newONS data shows rents rising at 8.6% annually, well above both wages and prices, the government should be warned that its welcome and ambitious vision for renters will come unstuck if it doesn’t have an answer to the affordability question,” he said.
Strengthening worker’s rights
The King’s Speech confirmed that Labour will be putting forward an Employment Rights Bill, which will move to ban “exploitative” zero-hours contracts and end “fire and rehire” practices.
The bill will also aim to improve access to parental leave and sick pay to new employees, and make flexible working the ”default” from day one for all workers, with companies required to accommodate requests.
Ending LGBTQ+ conversion therapy
A long-awaited ban on LGBTQ+ conversion therapy was announced in the King’s speech, with the ban expected to include protections for trans people.
A ban on the cruel and discredited practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity has been six years in waiting, with then-prime minister Theresa May first pledging to ban conversion therapy in 2018. Boris Johnson later reiterated the pledge, however rolled back on including trans people within the conversion therapy ban. The ban was quickly kicked into the long grass, however.
Jayne Ozanne, chair of the Ban Conversion Therapy organisation and a survivor of the practice, said she “welcomes” Labour’s intention to ban conversion practices, a ban she states is “well overdue”.
“I look forward to working with Labour to deliver a ban with no loopholes,” she added.
Nationalising the railways
The King’s Speech laid out plans to bring the UK’s railways into public ownership, establishing Great British Railways, as well as reforming rail franchising.
“Taken together these policies will enhance Britain’s position as a leading industrial nation and enable the country to take advantage of new opportunities that can promote growth and wealth creation,” the speech read.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of transport union RMT, said the group “welcomes” the announcements around transport.
“These achievements are down to pressure from the trade union movement, and we will continue to articulate what is in the best interests of railway workers and working people as a whole,” he said.
“We will also continue to actively engage with the government on the pay issues in our sectors which can be resolved quickly.”
Prioritising mental health
The King’s Speech laid out plans to improve mental health provision for young people, promising to “ensure mental health is given the same attention and focus as physical health” and “modernise” the Mental Health Act.
Welcoming the proposals, mental health charity Mind said reforming the Mental Health Act – which sets out when people with mental health problems can be detained for treatment against their will – is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”.
“This bill is a chance to strengthen people’s rights, choice, and control when they’re being treated in a mental health hospital,” chief executive of Mind Dr Sarah Hughes said.
“It’s a chance that must be taken to address the shameful racial disparities the law currently enables, particularly for Black people who are nearly four times more likely to be detained.”
Dr Hughes added: “We stand ready to work with the new UK government to make sure we seize this opportunity to create the wholesale reform to the mental health system we need now more than ever.”
What was missing from the speech?
Unsurprisingly, there was no mention in the King’s Speech of scrapping the two-child benefit cap introduced by the Conservative government, something which Labour has not promised, despite urging from campaigners and even the party’s own backbenches. Facing pressure to remove the limit, deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said “we can’t do everything all at once”.
Maggie Chapman, the Green Party’s social security spokesperson, described the benefit cap as “cruel and immoral”, urging the Labour party to act on the policy if it is “serious about tackling child poverty and inequality”.
“Sir Keir Starmer has the opportunity to end so much of the pain that has been inflicted over the last 14 years. Ending the two child cap is one of the simplest and most effective steps that he could take,” Chapman said in a statement.
“At the stroke of a pen, he could lift hundreds of thousands of children and their families out of poverty and hugely improve their lives and their life chances. The fact that he is refusing to remove a policy that he knows has done so much damage is beyond disappointing.”
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