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 20:18 · Andy Gregory]

Push for more whole-life sentences could see suspects insist on trial despite having no defence

Moves in the King’s Speech to push judges to hand out more whole-life sentences could mean that defendants with nothing to lose by pleading not guilty will insist on a trial even despite having no evidence, barristers have said.

“The Bar Council will give careful consideration to the proposals concerning whole life sentences,” said the council’s chair Nick Vineall KC.

“There is an obvious risk that when no credit can be achieved from a guilty plea, defendants who know that they have no defence will nevertheless insist on a trial, which means that their victims have to give evidence.”

[7 November 2023 20:36 · Andy Gregory]

Full report: Rishi Sunak’s first King’s speech labelled a ‘damp squib’ by unimpressed Tory MPs

Rishi Sunak used his first and possibly only King’s Speech to outline plans for tougher jail sentences and to ease the environmental “burden” on households, as part of a last-ditch effort to reverse his party’s fortunes.

The speech confirmed previously announced plans to see murderers spend life behind bars and for criminals to attend court for sentencing. There were also plans to extend the use of controversial lie detectors by probation officers and for a potential new tax on vapes.

But there was little in the way of major surprises in one of the lightest legislative programmes for a decade – as Labour accused the Conservatives of lacking “proper ambition” and “not even pretending to govern anymore”.

Senior Tory MPs supportive of Mr Sunak told The Independent that his plans for the next year were a “damp squib”, “dull as ditch water” and lacking “pizazz”.

My colleagues Kate Devlin and Adam Forrest have more details in this report: