Six takeaways from the King's Speech

In the King's Speech today, the King announced the legislative agenda for the next 12 months, with a package of over 35 bills covering a range of matters.
 

Our experts from our Public Law, Criminal Litigation and Immigration teams offer their thoughts on what some of these proposals may mean.

1. Improved standards in public office?
In line with the Government’s ongoing commitment to the “Hillsborough Law”, the Public Office (Accountability) Bill has been carried over to the new Parliamentary session. The Government will be seeking swift progress once the disputed security service exemption has been resolved, but it is likely to be debated in detail within the House of Lords.

Even once enacted, it will take some time to assess the impact of this new law. However, in the meantime, it is likely that calls will be made for the statutory duty of candour to be extended by secondary legislation beyond public inquiries and inquests to other forms of investigation. Given the new obligations upon public bodies are being backed up by criminal sanctions, care needs to be taken to ensure there is clarity and certainty in relation to its application.

The Government’s commitment to improving standards in public life is also reflected in its intention to introduce a bill which will create a mechanism for removing peerages from disgraced peers. 

2. Is this a turning point for digital identities?
A digital ID scheme has been on the cards for many years, with the UK now falling behind its EU peers. The proposed Digital Access to Services Bill indicates that it is no longer a question of whether this will be implemented, but how and when. Further to the recent consultation, this will be a fully digital ID developed from existing Government platforms such as GOV.UK One Login. Whilst the scheme will be voluntary, mandatory use cases are possible in the future.

The next step will be a ‘People’s Panel on Digital ID’ engaging a broadly representative group of 100-120 people from across the UK to consider the Digital ID from every angle, an exceptional step reflecting the importance of building public trust. Meanwhile, alongside the Single Patient Record to be established through the NHS Modernisation Bill, the Government will be keenly aware of the implications under human rights, equalities and data protection legislation. Close legal scrutiny will be needed as technology develops, data is aggregated and new use cases are added.

3. What lies ahead for electoral reform?
The Representation of the People Bill will be reintroduced this session, with electoral reform remaining a timely topic following the recent local and devolved elections. This carry-over bill lowers the voting age to 16 for all UK elections as outlined in the Government’s manifesto; the Department for Education has committed to make accompanying changes to strengthen civic education, including making citizenship compulsory in primary schools. The vote would be extended to around 1.7 million eligible 16- and 17-year-olds in what the background briefing to the speech describes as “the most significant expansion of the franchise in over half a century.”

The bill also tackles political finance rules, and the Government has indicated that it intends to use it to implement recommendations from the recent review by Philip Rycroft into foreign financial influence in UK politics. With the rapidly changing landscape around political funding and advertising, it will be interesting to see whether the Commons and the Lords agree that the Government’s proposals go far enough.

4. A focus on streamlining regulation 
As part of the Government’s ambition to simplify regulation, regulators from several spheres face significant structural changes designed to improve efficiencies or address duplication/gaps in oversight. In the financial services sphere, the Government will introduce legislation to consolidate the Payment Systems Regulator within the Financial Conduct Authority. In the water sector, it will introduce a bill to establish a new independent water regulator, combining the functions of several regulators (including Ofwat) currently operating in this space. Fundamental structural changes also await the health sector, including the proposed transfer of the functions of NHS England, Healthwatch England and the Health Services Safety Investigations Body to the Department of Health and Social Care or the Care Quality Commission. It remains to be seen how smooth the journey of transition will be for each of these sectors.  

5. Will the new immigration appeals body reduce backlogs?
The focus in the planned Bill is not on the anticipated earned settlement proposals (likely to be introduced via changes to the Immigration Rules) but on changes to the asylum system. As expected, the Immigration and Asylum Bill aims to build upon the ‘core protection’ model – presumably by introducing the “Protection Work and Study” route to reduce the qualifying period for settlement. Significantly, the Bill will also create a new independent appeals body, replacing the existing tribunal. Controversially, adjudicators will be recruited for the new appeals body from a range of sectors, including those without a legal background. Concerns will remain about whether the backlog of asylum cases will actually worsen under this new body. The Bill will also attempt to limit the definition of “family life” under article 8 ECHR (the right to respect for private and family life) so that it only includes “core” family members in the UK. 

6. Further commitments to policing reform and criminal justice
With the Crime and Policing Act 2026 entering the statute books just last week, the King’s Speech further confirms that the Government intends to deliver several long-standing commitments to overhaul the police and criminal justice system.  This includes a Police Reform Bill that is designed to “deliver the biggest reform to policing in decades,” seeking to strengthen local policing, improving standards and equipping the police with the technology and skills required to “tackle rapidly changing threats.” Further measures are proposed as part of the Government’s drive to halve violence against women and girls and knife crime.

Significant reforms to the Criminal Justice system are rehearsed following the overhauls proposed last year in relation to trial-by-jury and sentencing in the Magistrate’s Court.  We can also expect new criminal offences to be proposed in a number of areas including: non-compliance with new obligations on public bodies and officials and in relation to national security and tackling state threats.