Most important bills
BORIS Johnson sought to turn over a new leaf with a fresh legislative agenda in the wake of heated rows over Covid parties and stinging local election results for the Tories, including in Somerset.
The Queen’s Speech, which is written by the Government, was delivered by the Prince of Wales for the first time. In all, the package featured 38 bills or draft bills, including some that had been carried over from the last parliamentary session. legislation will reform the UK’s data protection regime, replacing the regulations inherited from the European Union with a system “focused on privacy outcomes rather than box-ticking”.
■
The legislation will ensure the UK can comply with the obligations set out in the free trade deals struck with Australia and
New Zealand.
■
The new laws will remove EU measures which prevent the development and marketing of “precision bred” plants and animals using techniques such as gene editing.
■ Could be used to set minimum qualification requirements for a person in England to be eligible for student loans to go to university, effectively restricting access. Will also create a lifelong loan entitlement to support people to retrain.
■
Aimed at improving tenants’ rights in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, with beefed-up powers for the regulator.
■ This will seek to abolish so-called “no fault” evictions by removing Section 21 of the Housing Act 1988 but also seek to reform possession grounds for landlords, strengthening them for repeated cases of rent arrears. ■
In the wake of the mass sacking of P&O Ferries workers, this will seek to crack down on ferry operators who do not pay National Minimum Wage by giving ports new powers to surcharge them and ultimately suspend them from accessing the port.
It will also force operators to ensure all seafarers receive a fair wage while in UK territory and provide legal sanctions for cases of non-compliance or supplying of false information.
■
This will aim to allow more people nearing the end of their life to access three disability benefits: Personal Independence Payment, Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance.
■ This includes a new crackdown on “guerrilla protests” with harsher sentences as well as making new criminal offences for those who glue themselves to roads or “lock on” to public transport infrastructure.
■
The legislation will enhance and develop the Ulster Scots/Ulster British tradition in Northern Ireland while recognising and protecting the Irish language, based on measures in the New Decade, New Approach Deal.
■
The law will ban live exports, tackle puppy smuggling and prohibit keeping primates as pets without a licence.
■ the controversial practice for attempting to change sexual orientation, but not gender identity.
Bans