What does the 2024 King’s Speech mean for local, regional and city economies in the UK?

The King’s Speech is a key part of the State Opening of Parliament ceremony. It is formally called the Speech from the Throne and is delivered by the monarch, though written by the government. The speech provides the government with an opportunity to outline its priorities for the months ahead and sets out the legislative timetable of bills.

In sum – it tells us a lot about priorities for the new government. And remember – with a majority of 172 MPs these bills will get passed. And since they are in the King’s Speech it is rare that they get opposed by the House of Lords.

However – it is useful to remember that the government can act within existing legislation. For example, The Shared Prosperity Fund could be amended, extended, or expanded in terms of total funding under the 2022 Levelling Up White Paper which has already been passed by the UK Parliament.

So there are also things the government will do under existing legislative powers.

There’s a handy briefing on the No. 10 website. Here’s a quick rundown of the 13 most relevant planned bills that we should see passed by Parliament in the next year or so, with a few quick thoughts and reactions thrown in...

A run through the 13 most relevant bills for local, city and regional economies

Budget Responsibility Bill: any proposed government changes to tax and spend are subject to independent assessment by the OBR. This will help with economic stability and government fiscal credibility.

National Wealth Fund Bill: proposes £7.3bn is invested through the UK Infrastructure Bank. Seeking to generate 3x private investment for every £1 invested by public sector. Focus is on riskier infrastructure and climate change activities. Some thoughts:

• I must admit to being rather confused by this bill. It says it will help simplify the landscape of support for businesses and investors
• But its an earmarked £7.3bn for loans – and presumably will be on activities which can generate revenue return or enhanced asset values
• It will need to follow the rigors of an investment fund. E.g. remember British Volt? It failed, and turned out to be quite a dodgy proposition.
• Due diligence for loan funds, investment funds – can take a while.
• I think its useful as an umbrella or one-stop-shop for large scale private investors who would get incentivised by government risk sharing and co-investment
• The stated aid implications must be hefty though!

Planning and Infrastructure Bill: streamlining planning and delivery process for critical infrastructure, reform to CPO rules, modernising planning committees, building local authority planning capacity, using development to fund nature recovery

Employment Rights Bill: new partnership between business, trade unions and working people, banning exploitative zero-hour contracts and other fire and rehire practices, making parental leave, sick pay and protection from unfair dismissal available from day 1 on the job for all workers. A genuine living wage that accounts for the cost of living, removal of discriminatory age bands. Some thoughts:

• A consequence I’ve seen in many localities is that increasing minimum wage offers, and removing age discrimination – makes Apprenticeships much less well paid than jobs. So one perverse impact may be a drop in young people taking up Apprenticeships.

English Devolution Bill: a new more ambitious and standardised framework for English devolution. Making devolution the default setting, meaning places will be granted powers without the need to negotiate agreements where they meet the governance conditions. Some thoughts:

• There’s no reference to revenue raising powers and tools or any additional resources for local government. Or even local enhancement of planning powers to be even more pro-development, for example. Or any sense how devolution might enable innovation and delivery development to enhance public sector productivity and impact. Without these, the potential of local devolution will be muted.
• Spatial planning at metro or Combined Authority level is interesting, but will be highly contested and bogged own in legal challenges unless there is legislation clearly setting out its role and powers.

Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill: appointing a public-sector operator is the default position rather than merely a last resort. Some thoughts:

• Perhaps there will be some opportunities to better plan rail services and investment around economic development, socio-economic, sustainability, inclusion and equality. Rather than it being about commercial revenue for a private sector franchise.

Better Buses Bill: give local communities throughout England the power to take back control of their bus services. Some thoughts:

• Could this be the only substantial power that is given to local devolution? So far it’s the only clearest power or service to be articulated.

Railways Bill: legislation to create a unified and simplified rail system that relentlessly focuses on improving services for passengers, delivering better value for money. Some thoughts:

• Again there is an opportunity to better integrated rail planning and services with the needs of local, city and regional economies.

Digital Information and Smart Data Bill: enable new innovative uses of data to be safely developed and deployed and will improve people’s lives. Some thoughts:

• There could be some opportunities which are encouraged by this bill, including big data and analytics. There may also be implications for data security and management for the client and beneficiaries of local economic initiative and services.

High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester) Bill: repurposing the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill to provide powers to construct and operate rail projects which improve east to west connectivity across the north of England. Some thoughts:

• The implication is that there could be support and resources for the Northern Powerhouse Rail projects which have long been planned and advocated.

Great British Energy Bill: establishes Great British Energy – a new, publicly-owned energy production company which will own, manage and operate clean power projects up and down the country. Some thoughts:

• This could mean further investment and jobs in localities that have sustainable energy generation assets, projects and capabilities.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Revenue Support Mechanism) Bill: support sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production in the UK by providing revenue certainty to encourage investment in the construction of SAF plants across the UK. Some thoughts:

• For localities which have existing assets or capabilities in sustainable aviation fuel, this could mean greater certainty for expansion and development.

Skills England Bill: bring together businesses, providers, unions, Mayoral Combined Authorities (MCAs) and national government to ensure we have the highly trained workforce that England needs – including transferring functions from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE). Some thoughts:

• This seems like a well-intentioned initiative to improve skills provision for the economy. However, this is a path paved with good intentions which has failed in the past. It will need teeth, influence as well as outstanding research and development capacity to sufficiently influence change.

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Glenn Athey is a leading economic development and regeneration professional and senior executive with a 30-year track record of successful leadership, delivery, networks, and practical knowledge acquired working in senior roles in government agencies, partnership organisations and UK think tanks.

Glenn helps local leaders translate their economic ambitions into winning advocacy and solutions that get funded.

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