King’s Speech – live: New laws on oil, smoking and football as Charles III makes first State Opening

Seven pieces of legislation will be carried over into the next parliamentary session

King Charles and Camila meet officials on state visit to Kenya

A raft of new laws – including measures on oil and gas licences, the establishment of a new football regulator, and moves to phase out cigarette smoking – have been included in the King’s Speech.

The proposed legislation was announced by King Charles III as he addressed Parliament in his first State Opening, as the monarch set out Rishi Sunak’s government’s policy agenda for the year ahead.

It is the first such speech King Charles III has made since assuming the throne last year. It is also the first of Mr Sunak’s tenure in No 10 – and most likely the last prior to an expected general election next year.

The speech revealed Mr Sunak’s plans to make law and order a key election battleground, with a series of measures promising tougher sentences for killers and rapists.

Mr Sunak has also introduced new legislation to expand the use of self-driving vehicles – which clear the way for buses and lorries to operate autonomously by the end of the decade.

Key points

• King’s Speech: What policies made it in and what’s been removed?
• Impact of the King’s Speech will last until the next century, Rishi Sunak claims
• Suella Braverman plan to stop tents for homeless people junked from Kings Speech by No 10
• Sunak has left LGBT+ community ‘at the mercy of bigots and quacks’, says Tory MP

[7 November 2023 17:44 · Andy Gregory]

Suella Braverman accused of ‘trying to get fired’ with ‘dangerous’ Palestine protest remarks

Home secretary Suella Braverman has been accused of “looking to get fired” by Rishi Sunak in order to launch her bid to become the next leader of the Tory party.

Senior Tory peer Baroness Warsi accused Ms Braverman of being “dangerous and divisive” for her comments on pro-Palestine rallies which “embolden the far right”.

And Colin Bloom, the government’s former adviser on faith engagement, said the home secretary – who has described the protests as “hate marches” – was “goading No 10” to sack her.

“I think that language is deliberately designed to goad No 10 into probably firing her – I think Suella is looking to be fired,” he told BBC Newsnight.

Mr Bloom added: “It’s not just those [hate march] comments, it’s the comments that she made about people sleeping in tents. I thinks she is goading No 10 to get rid of her because she wants to launch her leadership campaign.”

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has the full report:

[7 November 2023 18:03 · Andy Gregory]

‘Astounding’ failure to include reform to Mental Health Act in King’s Speech

Rishi Sunak has been criticised for an “astounding” failure to include plans to stop people being sectioned without a mental health illness in the King’s Speech.

“Government’s failure to include reform to the Mental Health Act in today’s King’s Speech is astounding,” said Rachael Dodgson, chief executive of non-profit Dimensions.

“The Mental Health Bill should be a matter of urgency so that we can end the sectioning of people with a learning disability or autism when they don’t have a mental health illness.

“The inappropriate use of mental health detention means thousands of people are being admitted to, and kept in, hospital without a realistic prospect that the underlying causes of their detention will be addressed or improved. Put simply, the problem is being treated with the wrong set of tools.

“What’s more, staff working in inpatient settings often lack the appropriate skills and training to properly support people who have a learning disability or autism, often leading to the deterioration of the person’s wellbeing and making it even less likely they will be discharged.”

[7 November 2023 18:20 · Andy Gregory]

King’s Speech is longest since 2005 – but shortest on policy in a decade

The King’s Speech ran to 1,223 words and took 11 and a half minutes to deliver, making it the longest monarch’s speech at a state opening of Parliament since 2005.

But there were fewer pieces of legislation covered by this speech (20 Bills and one draft, totalling 21) than in 2022 (33 Bills and five drafts, totalling 38), with several paragraphs instead summarising the government’s broad aims in domestic and foreign affairs.

It is the smallest legislative programme set out in a state opening since 2014, according to Sky News.

[7 November 2023 18:32 · Andy Gregory]

Auditing overhaul watered down amid ‘disappointing’ King’s Speech omission

Britain’s auditing watchdog has revealed over half of its proposed changes to corporate governance rules are being ditched, as it described the move to omit legislation from the King’s Speech to create a more powerful accounting regulator as “disappointing”.

The chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), Richard Moriarty, said the regulator would now press ahead with only a “small number” of the 18 proposals set out in its consultation in May.

He put part of the decision down to the FRC’s need to balance “supporting UK economic growth and competitiveness”, as well as to boost trust in governance, following on from responses to its consultation over the summer.

[7 November 2023 18:39 · Andy Gregory]

Watch: Former Conservative Minister calls Suella Braverman 'dangerous and divisive'

[7 November 2023 18:53 · Andy Gregory]

Independent regulator plans confirmed for English football by Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak confirmed plans for an independent football regulator to safeguard the future of English clubs in his King’s Speech on Tuesday.

The Independent Regulator for Football (Iref) will have the power to step in to address cash flow and other systemic issues within clubs, many of which are financially vulnerable.

“Legislation will be brought forward to safeguard the future of football clubs for the communities and fans,” King Charles III said in his speech.

A separate government briefing document said the fragility of the English footballing pyramid had been exposed in recent years.

Ed Osmond has more details in this report:

[7 November 2023 19:05 · Andy Gregory]

Former Tory party chair Baroness Warsi has launched a blistering attacked on Suella Braverman and other “arsonists” in the party, accusing the home secretary of using a push to ban the pro-Palestine march planned for Saturday in bid to stoke the culture wars.

“She fights culture wars. She doesn’t fix things, she breaks things,” the former Tory chair told Sky News. “I think she’s dangerous and she’s divisive.”

Baroness Warsi said: “We have now, sadly, some of my colleagues in government who project as patriots but they are indeed arsonists. They set this country alight – they pit community against community, they create these fires. And that is not the job of a government.”

Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has more here:

[7 November 2023 19:21 · Andy Gregory]

Tom Peck | My government won’t deny homeless people a tent after all…

Here isThe Independent’s political sketch writer Tom Peck’s take on today’s proceedings:

This King’s Speech, this last desperate roll of the dice for a government very much on notice, contained fewer bills than any other in a decade, and that includes the long, mad, all-consuming years of Brexit, when absolutely nothing happened.

There was the plan for a new, independent football regulator. There was a new “legal framework” for self-driving cars, and a ratchet-style, ever-increasing age limit on smoking. (The young pages of honour to the King’s right managed to maintain a look of dignified solemnity, as they were told that they would be the first generation who would never be allowed to buy a cigarette.)

What was more telling was what wasn’t there. The weekend’s discourse was captured by yet more performative cruelty from home secretary Suella Braverman. But by Tuesday, evidently somebody had worked out that it would not look great to have a king, sitting on a throne in seven, quite possibly eight, figures-worth of headgear, announcing a ban on tents for homeless people.

Which is not to say they didn’t find other ways to humiliate him.

[7 November 2023 19:46 · Andy Gregory]

Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid live on TV, inquiry told

Boris Johnson wanted to be injected with Covid live on TV “to show it did not pose a threat”, his former chief of staff in Downing Street has told the Covid inquiry, in yet another day of explosive evidence.

Lord Edward Udny-Lister told the official probe into the handling of the pandemic that the ex-PM, who spent days in intensive care and almost died from the virus, that the then PM’s suggestion was “an unfortunate comment”. The comments were first reported in 2021 but confirmed by Lord Lister in Tuesday’s evidence.

His comments come as Britain’s top civil servant, Simon Case, said he had “never seen a bunch of people less well-equipped to run a country” when he joined Downing Street during the Covid pandemic.

Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell has the latest:

[7 November 2023 19:59 · Andy Gregory]

Lawyers say more funding needed for government plans to toughen sentences

Lawyers have called for a funding boost to back up government plans for the most serious criminals to spend more time in prison, while lesser offenders can be released earlier.

Chair of the Criminal Bar Association, Tana Adkin KC, said: “Expressing a commitment to harsher sentences and served to term for serious criminal offences only works if there is proper investment in the prison estate and the rest of the criminal justice system.

“If we want prison sentences to work, government must invest in the infrastructure, but more importantly the people in the criminal justice system, to ensure we have the capacity to punish wrongdoers, deter others and rehabilitate those who are imprisoned at great cost to the taxpayer as well as themselves and their families.”

Echoing calls for increased funding, Nick Vineall KC, chair of the Bar Council, said: “The court system has suffered over a decade of underfunding and legal aid cuts have denied many people effective access to justice.

“Additional funding is urgently required both to ensure that the courts and justice system can adequately function and to enable the delivery of the draft legislation announced today.”