King’s speech live: Labour push on ‘getting Britain building’ more houses and private school VAT fees

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “Today’s King’s Speech will restore hope to England’s 11 million renters, whose lives have been plagued by no fault evictions for decades.

“The new Renters Rights Bill has to be a fresh start at reforming broken private renting. Not only does this mean urgently scrapping no fault evictions, but also setting clear limits to in-tenancy rent increases. The government cannot allow landlords to continue to force tenants out of their homes with eyewatering rent hikes.

“If this government truly wants to deliver the biggest increase in social house building in a generation, any new planning legislation must be focused on delivering 90,000 social rent homes a year.

“Private developers will not deliver the target 1.5m homes by themselves – councils need the means to build genuinely affordable homes too. Otherwise, their plans will fail, like countless governments before them, and homelessness will remain at a record high.”

Asked about an additional £100 million which had been due to go to the African nation as part of the previous Tory government’s asylum scheme, the Prime Minister’s spokesman told reporters: “Yes, we are clear that that money won’t be sent to Rwanda.”

The official also said: “We’ve been very clear that the partnership with Rwanda has finished.

“The Home Secretary’s going to provide an update shortly after she’s analysed all the details around both the money, the legislation and the processes.

“We’re clear we will repeal the Safety of Rwanda Act, we will terminate the agreement.”

Yvette Cooper’s update will also analyse “the existing legislation and how it interacts with the new legislation”, he said.

Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, has started with a statement about the rules MPs have to follow in the Commons. It is a statement he has to make at the start of every session.

The final few MPs are now being sworn. Sir Keir Starmer will address the Commons following the King’s Speech.

Barristers and solicitors have warned that “new laws are not a panacea in the absence of adequate funding” into the crisis-stricken criminal justice system, following the King’s Speech.

Urging the new government to “work proactively to protect and secure access to justice and make our justice system a source of pride again”, Law Society president Nick Emmerson warned that civil justice is “crying out for investment after decades of underfunding”.

“Immediate steps that should be taken are a real terms increase in criminal legal aid rates of 15 per cent while wider reform takes place and, for civil legal aid, an immediate £11.3m investment in early advice to sustain the system while the ongoing review takes place,” said Mr Emmerson.

“We broadly welcome measures intended to improve the criminal justice response to violence against women and girls, deal with knife crime and respond to the criminal exploitation of children. However, writing new laws is not a panacea in the absence of adequate funding of all facets of the criminal justice system and timely, expert advice and support.”

And Criminal Bar Association vice-chair Mary Prior KC said: “There must be a fairer and more just society where all those accused of crime and importantly the victims of crime can have faith that the criminal justice system will provide a fair trial within six months.

“The only real way for change is if there is significant whole-scale long term planning and investment into the people who play essential roles in delivering justice – the police, prosecution service, criminal barristers and solicitors, the judiciary, court staff, probation staff and prisons – as for many years the system has been grossly underfunded.

“The time has come for the criminal justice system to be treated with the respect it deserves, with a ring-fenced budget which is substantially increased to enable this new government and future governments to protect this vitally important system.

“Unless we invest in the justice system, then those who work within it will turn away from it and do other more financially rewarding and less stressful work.”

The Unite union has warned the government not to be “straitjacketed by self-made fiscal rules” and urged Sir Keir Starmer to invest in public services.

Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said: “The King’s Speech is packed full of measures which will begin transforming the UK for the better. The King’s Speech shows why Britain needs a Labour Government.

“There is no doubt that the UK has been given hope and the opportunity for tangible change by electing a Labour government. Unite is already seeing that in our initial discussions with key ministers.

“Britain is broken and hurting, we have no time to waste. We have one shot to deliver for workers and communities. We have to make it count.”

King Charles gave his King’s Speech today, marking the opening of parliament as the first Labour government in 14 years is ushered in.

Amongst these was new legislation to get ‘Great British Energy’ off the ground, crack down on failing water companies and bring rail operators into public ownership.

However, the speech left some disappointed as measures they expected – or hoped – would be offered didn’t make the cut.

Here’s an overview of what was missing in the King’s Speech:

The Government has pledged to strengthen the UK’s cybersecurity and resilience, as well as take greater advantage of data to boost economic growth, through new Bills announced in the King’s Speech.

A reported fully-fledged AI Bill was not announced during the State Opening of Parliament, but the King’s Speech set out how the Government would “seek to establish the appropriate legislation to place requirements on those working to develop the most powerful artificial intelligence models”.

In response to the ever-increasing risk of cyber attacks, the new LabourGovernment said it would introduce the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which would give greater power to regulators to push more firms to implement better cybersecurity defences.