Boris Johnson will get the chance to give his government a mini relaunch when his legislative agenda for the next year is set out at the state opening of parliament in the Queen’s speech.
Governments always try to give the Queen’s speech a theme – this year’s will be growing the economy, easing the burden on families and levelling up – but all Queen’s speeches tend to be a mix of flagship manifesto measures and more routine bits of legislative housekeeping.
Although ministers routinely claim in interviews they “cannot anticipate what will be in the Queen’s speech”, it is well known what bills are in the pipeline and some of them are specifically announced in advance.
Here is a guide to what to expect on Tuesday:
Bills that are certain or expected to be in Queen’s speech
Schools bill
Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, says the bill is designed to “create a school system that works for every child, parent and family”. Presented as part of the government’s levelling up agenda, the bill will make it easier for schools in England to join multi-academy trusts and strengthen their regulatory framework.
It will also introduce a new national funding formula for schools, intended to make school funding fairer, and set up compulsory registers for children not in school.
Higher education bill
The centrepiece of this bill will be the introduction of a “lifelong loan entitlement”, allowing people a loan equivalent to four years of university education (£37,000) that they can use over their lifetime to fund technical training. The government claims this will amount to a “seismic shift” for post-18 education.
Levelling up and regeneration bill
Designed to stop high streets being blighted by empty shops, this bill will give councils in England the power to force landlords to rent out commercial properties. It will also give local authorities new powers to take control of empty buildings through beefed-up compulsory purchase orders.
The bill will also reportedly allow councils to double council tax on second homes that are not occupied.
British Bill of Rights
Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, said in an interview with the Sun on Sunday that this long-promised Tory bill, which is designed to limit some of the influence of Labour’s Human Rights Act and give UK judges more freedom to diverge from European court of human rights rulings, would ensure “public safety gets more priority than the rights of offenders”.
In particular, he wants to use it to make it easier for the government to deport foreign offenders and to limit the extent to which the ECHR can be used to muzzle the press on privacy grounds.
Brexit freedoms bill
Boris Johnson has promised what he calls a “Brexit freedoms bill”, which is intended to facilitate the removal of EU regulations retained after Britain’s departure from the EU. Other Brexit-related bills will include one to allow gene-editing, a procurement bill to make it easier for small firms to bid for public sector contracts and a data reform bill.
Broadcasting bill
A bill is expected to implement the proposed privatisation of Channel 4.
Economic crime bill
The government has promised an economic crime bill giving Companies House new powers to check on people suspected of registering companies fraudulently after the emergency economic crime bill introduced recently creating a register of overseas entities and their beneficial owners.
Animal welfare (animals abroad) bill
This bill will impose a ban on the import of hunting trophies and ban the sale and advertising of holidays that involve cruelty to animals. But plans for the bill to include a ban on the import and sale of foie gras and fur have reportedly been dropped.
Draft mental health bill
This legislation, being published in draft, will overhaul the Mental Health Act 1983. It will limit the extent to which the act can be used to detain autistic people and people with learning disabilities and it will ensure more consideration is given to the treatment preferences of patients detained under the act.
The bill will implement most of the recommendations of a review of the act by Prof Sir Simon Wessely in 2018.
Draft conversion therapy bill
A draft bill is expected on banning conversion practices – although, controversially, not for trans people.
Bills being carried over
Four bills are being carried over from the last session: the online safety bill, the animal welfare (kept animals) bill, the higher education (freedom of speech) bill and the high speed rail (Crewe-Manchester) bill.
A bill for potential inclusion in the Queen’s speech
The government has been working on a bill that will be framed as being about protecting the Good Friday Agreement – but which, in practice, would empower the government to ignore parts of the Northern Ireland protocol. A highly controversial measure, it is not clear yet whether this will be referenced directly in the Queen’s speech – or whether at this stage it is just an option being held in reserve.
Bills not included in the Queen’s speech
A planning bill
Last year’s Queen’s speech promised a planning bill. But Tory MPs reacted very badly to the plans, amid fears it would lead to a massive expansion of housing in southern England approved by a planning algorithm. The bill was dropped, and instead more modest changes to planning are expected to be included in the levelling up bill.
Employment bill
The government has also reportedly dropped an employment bill that had been intended to strengthen workers’ rights.
