The legal impacts of the Labour government and the Budget 2024 for you, your family, and your business

Today, the new Labour government announced its eagerly awaited budget. In this special briefing our private client and tax experts consider what the announcements will mean for you, your family, and your business.

Introduced in 2013, permitted development rights led to an uptick in office-to-residential conversions and recent amendments made to The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (‘GPDO’) have made office-to-residential conversions even more accessible for developers. This blog looks at the recent changes and discusses the opportunity these present to developers.

Our employment law experts Nikola Southern and Kirsty Churm take a look at what we know so far about the Government's main EMployment law proposals and what they might mean for employers and workers

Earlier this month, King Charles III opened the first session of the new parliament by outlining the Labour government’s priorities. Among these was the much-anticipated draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill. It has been six years since Sir John Kingman delivered his independent review of the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), and the call for robust audit reform has remained strong. 

Mary Young was recently published in the New Law Journal where she sets out a lawyer’s wish list for the new prime minister & the Labour government.

Practitioners have been waiting for the King’s Speech with interest to see which proposals previously made by the Labour Party would be mentioned and form the basis of legislation to be passed in the near future.

In today’s King’s Speech we received confirmation of the upcoming Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill that the new Government intends to introduce to tackle the on-going small boat crossings. Echoing their manifesto, the speech confirmed the Government’s intention to strengthen the border with the establishment of a new Border Security Command and enhanced counter terror powers in relation to organised immigration crime. There will also be stronger criminal penalties introduced for organised immigration crime.

Labour have hit the ground running on energy policy issues with several significant announcements in the days after coming into power. Ahead of the Kings Speech tomorrow (17 July), we look at the key developments in the last two weeks and what we might see going forward. 

Labour’s manifesto promises a ‘Hillsborough Law’ which will place a legal duty of candour on public servants and authorities.  But what are the implications?

Whether this truly was an “immigration election”, as Nigel Farage claimed it to be, the subject was certainly high on the political agenda, with each party listing immigration as a key issue in their manifestos and both Labour and the Conservatives pledging to bring down net migration and tackle so-called “illegal migration.”

Whilst the housebuilding side of Angela Rayner's new role of Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has garnered headlines in the first week of the new Labour Government,  changes to section 117 of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, which are due to take effect on 24 July 2024, may bring the issue of cladding and building remediation costs to the top of her inbox sooner than she may have expected.

With Labour campaigning successfully under the banner of ‘Change’, and dedicating one of its five manifesto mission statements to “halving serious violent crime and raising confidence in the police and criminal justice system to its highest levels”, we review what the party has said and how the new government may develop its plans.

Lord Carter of Haslemere writes about Labour’s proposed review of sentencing and why this may be one possible solution to our prisons overcrowding problem. 

As the new Labour government champions an agenda for growth, will the fight against fraud be a priority?

The last general election seems a lifetime ago and after a turbulent few years, a global pandemic, an economic crash, three conservative prime ministers and an ageing lettuce, the 4 July 2024 election is upon us and forecasters predict that change is likely. Whilst topics such as the NHS and the economy have taken centre stage, there have been a number of property pledges and housing targets proposed across the parties. Here we seek to cut through the manifesto jargon and highlight the key themes of housing policies from the Labour Party, Conservative party, Liberal Democrats and the Green party.

The current government is intent on lowering net migration to the UK.  All but eradicating the ability for students and care workers to bring family members with them to the UK are policies already significantly affecting numbers.    

Opinion polls may be divided as to how high a priority immigration policy is for the electorate but with at least one party labelling this the ‘immigration election’, it is certainly an area which is set to attract significant scrutiny in the manifestos released this week.  We set out here a comparison of the main political parties’ immigration policies – as set out in their manifestos – and consider what it could mean for future UK immigration policy.

The Labour Party Manifesto 2024 has just been published ahead of the General Election on 4 July 2024.

On 8 February, Labour announced it will no longer be spending £28bn a year on environmental projects if it wins the upcoming general election. Instead they would cut funding for their green prosperity plan in half to a figure under £15bn due to economic changes since the plan was announced.

The future of technology in the United Kingdom has become a cornerstone issue in recent political discourse.  Ahead of the upcoming general election later this year, the Conservative and Labour parties are each in the process of setting out their stalls and heralding their visions for the nation's future, technological landscape.