Bills, Bills, Bills
Where are we in the Government's legislative agenda, and where are we going?
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You can read more about this project in this introductory post.
Starting next week, I will be posting a regular overview of the week ahead every Monday, a Foreign Affairs & Defence newsletter every Thursday, and an Economics & Finance newsletter every Friday.
Today’s newsletter looks at where we are in the Government’s legislative programme – and where we are going. It is the first of a series of introductory briefings dropping this week, to get you ready for Parliament returning from summer recess next Monday.
The current parliamentary Session (2022-23) began in May with the Government's legislative agenda, delivered for the first time by Prince Charles in the absence of the Queen, including proposals for almost 40 Bills.
However, the subsequent months were dominated by the crisis and fall of Boris Johnson, and by the time MPs went on summer recess, only two Bills had become law (not including Supply and Appropriation, which approves state spending). Those two were:
Both responded to the dominant issue of the past year: the cost of living crisis (déjà vu?). This time last year, it was announced that the energy price cap for October would increase (six months before Russia invaded Ukraine) and the lockdown uplift to Universal Credit was due to expire that September, prompting calls for the Government to levy taxes on energy profits and provide direct payments to support people on benefits.
In however limited a fashion, the two Bills that became law between May and July, responded to those demands. The Government increased tax on UK oil and gas production from 40% to 65%, to fund, in part, the "Cost of Living Payments".
Regardless, this is slow progress for a Government with an 80-seat majority. They will have to work hard to bring all of the 23 Government Bills currently in progress to Royal Assent before the end of the Session.
With a new Prime Minister incoming, however, there could be a wave of new Bills tabled in the weeks and months ahead, including any emergency measures to deal with energy costs. While this could increase the number of Bills passed in the Session, it could also clog up the works, causing legislation begun in the first half of the year to fall by the wayside.
However, it seems likely that 2022 will continue to be dominated by calls for short-term measures to deal with the cost of living crisis through energy and welfare legislation. The new Prime Minister may have to wait until next May to draw up a legislative agenda that reflects their own ambitions. In the meantime, it may be easier for them to pick up plans promised but undelivered by Boris Johnson and repackage them.
Several Bills floated in the Queen's Speech are yet to be introduced, including promised legislation on “Brexit Freedoms”, banning “Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions” by public bodies and banning so-called conversion therapy. The new Prime Minister can mark both continuity and change from Boris Johnson by taking up and putting their stamp on such pieces of legislation, so we may see them back on the agenda.
When Parliament returns next Monday, MPs will immediately be scrutinising several major pieces of legislation. The Online Safety Bill and the Public Order Bill, both controversial for their restrictions on civil liberties, are at Report Stage and will soon head to the Lords. The National Security Bill and the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill will both continue to be scrutinised in Committee stage. And MPs will get their first chance to debate the Bill of Rights Bill and the Financial Services and Markets Bill on Second Reading.
Despite the focus of much debate on the cost of living crisis, the political questions continue to be shaped by Brexit. Several pieces of important legislation that will be debated in the weeks ahead – including the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, The Financial Services and Markets Bill and the Bill of Rights Bill – are fundamentally shaped by the UK's exit from the EU. The UK's terse relationship with Brussels, ready to flare up at any moment, is still reflected within British politics itself. While the 2022-23 Session might be characterised by the cost of living crisis, we shouldn't forget that this Parliament, elected in late 2019, is characterised by Boris Johnson's landslide victory to “get Brexit done” – and it will be so until the next election, at least.
Each of the Bills in progress is deeply tied to the legacy of its respective Minister, whether Priti Patel, Dominic Raab or Rishi Sunak. But that is all subject to change now. The transition period for the new Prime Minister and a Cabinet reshuffle will be seized on by MPs of all parties, new Ministers and old Backbenchers alike, as an opportunity to push through their preferred amendments, making the final state of those Bills more contingent on parliamentary debate than before.
For example, if Liz Truss wins the Tory leadership, will the Government seek to amend the Financial Services and Markets Bill to reflect her plans to merge the three City regulators? And will Backbench MPs get the Government to adopt a “public interest defence” for whistleblowers and journalists in the National Security Bill, as leading legal firms have called for?
You can stay up to date with those debates each week with Parliamentary Insight, which will be covering debates in both Houses of Parliament on two key areas:
Economics & Finance
Foreign Affairs & Defence
Tomorrow, in the second of these introductory briefings, I will be posting a detailed breakdown of the Government Bills in those two key areas.
