Tackling crime, employee exploitation and apprenticeships: Key takeaways from the King’s Speech

“Now is time to take the brakes off Britain,” the region’s newest prime minister and Labour party leader Keir Starmer said in a release ahead of the King’s Speech. “For too long people have been held back, their paths determined by where they came from - not their talents and hard work.”

His comments were later followed by words from King Charles III, written by the government and delivered by the monarch at the State Opening of Parliament, marking the beginning of a new parliamentary year in the UK. Through this, Labour was able to outline new bills that the party intends to introduce, through which Starmer hopes “to create wealth for people up and down the country”.

While a whole raft of overarching bills were revealed in the speech, from a Budget Responsibility Bill and a Mental Health Bill to a Football Governance Bill, some directly addressed businesses and retail in the UK, and were therefore welcomed by the industry’s leading organisations.

In a response to the speech, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), Helen Dickinson, said: “The King’s speech lays out the foundations for a more modern, dynamic British economy, and retailers look forward to playing their part in bringing this to life. The breadth of the retail industry means that many of these bills impact retailers and their customers, and we look forward to working closely with government to maximise the industry’s contribution.”

Here are some of the bills you need to know…

Planning and infrastructure bill

“My ministers will get Britain building, including through planning reform, as they seek to accelerate the delivery of high quality infrastructure and housing,” the King said on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This would also include the encouragement of investment in industry, skills and new technologies, contributing to what Dickinson said was a “promise of much-needed planning reforms”.

She continued: “The very nature of our high streets and retail centres are changing, yet current planning laws are failing to keep pace with this transformation, making them a barrier to, rather than a facilitator of, this change. Government must ensure that planning departments are better resourced, allowing them to make faster decisions and provide statutory certainty about application timelines, and creating streamlined processes for planning decisions regarding minor improvements.”

Employment rights bill

As part of the Employment Rights Bill, Labour intends to introduce a “new deal for working people to ban exploitative practices and enhance employment rights”. This would also include legislation that would place requirements on those developing artificial intelligence (AI) models.

Dickinson said the retail industry supported this bill, and that the BRC was looking forward to engaging with the government “as it carries out its consultation on the bill to ensure the plans are practical and workable for businesses and employees”.

Skills England bill

“My ministers will seek to raise educational standards and break down barriers to opportunity,” King Charles began before touching on the Children’s Wellbeing Bill, primarily focused on school-based education. This then tied into the Skills England Bill, reaffirming Labour’s plans to reform the apprenticeship levy, a tax used to fund apprenticeship training and an initiative for which the BRC has long been demanding reform on.

The updated Growth and Skills Levy, which had already been introduced as part of the Labour Manifesto, aims to provide businesses with more flexibility to train and upskill their workforce. Dickinson said that the industry hoped this would allow for the use of funds for pre-employment courses, short courses encompassing functional and digital skills, and other advanced courses that will meet the needs of a modern workforce.

Crime and policing bill

One of the more widely welcomed bills was that of the Crime and Policing Bill, for which King Charles said: “Legislation will be brought forward to strengthen community policing, give the police greater powers to deal with anti social behaviour and strengthen support for victims.” Among his missions, Starmer had already noted he was planning to create a standalone offence for assault on shop workers, with the King’s speech reaffirming his stance.

Dickinson said that the bill must protect all in customer-facing roles, adding: “We also welcome the bill’s introduction of stronger measures to tackle shoplifting and anti-social behaviour. This is a timely intervention at a time when retail crime is costing retailers and their customers 3.3 billion pounds a year.”