The King’s Speech sets the legislative agenda for the next parliament by laying out the vision of the new government. Does this legislation appear to be intergenerationally fair? IF researcher, Toby Whelton, investigates.
New opportunities
At last, the election is over and there is now a new Labour government that possesses a staggering majority and a mandate for change. There is now a real opportunity to address and begin to reverse the systematic intergenerational injustices entrenched in the UK political system.
In IF’s audit of the different political parties’ manifestos, we identified many encouraging signs of intergenerationally fair policy in Labour’s manifesto, even if not all perfect. The King’s Speech last Wednesday shone a light on what policies will be prioritised, committed to and hopefully delivered.
Housing
IF was concerned at the absence of any housing policies in Labour’s six pledges at the start of the election campaign, but these fears have been dispelled with housing now at the forefront of the agenda.
Central to the government’s housing plans is the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which aims to speed up and streamline the planning process to get houses built. Local councils will be given mandatory house-building targets and penalised if these are not met. Given the extent of skyrocketing prices and historically low homeownership by the young, increasing the housing supply is crucial.
Renter’s rights are also firmly on the government’s agenda with the introduction of a Renters’ Rights Bill. We will have to wait and see how closely it resembles the failed Renters Reform Bill but His Majesty did allude to the abolition of no-fault evictions, greater tenant protections against damp and mould and an end to rental bidding wars. With a third of young people living in the private rental sector, these changes will be key to curb the current economic insecurity and extortion many currently face.
Lastly, the proposed leasehold and freehold reform legislation will tackle unregulated and unaffordable ground rents and remove the threat of forfeiture as a means of making leaseholders comply. This is also highly welcomed, with exploitative ground rents one of the most egregious vices of the housing market.
Infrastructure and transport
Somewhat surprising, yet welcomed, was how heavily transport featured in the speech. The railway networks will be brought back into public ownership, bus services will be devolved to localities and while not a resurrection of HS2, improvements will be made to east-to-west train links. IF has long called for bus services to better cater to the needs of younger generations as well as offer the same concessionary fares to children and young people as they do to over-65s, so we are delighted to see government support for this crucial public transport service across the country.
Where IF does have concerns is how the much-needed investment in our public services is raised following the collapse of crucial private finance initiatives (PFIs) such as Metronet under previous administrations. However funds are raised, they must provide value-for-money to taxpayers, and balance the costs more fairly so that younger generations do not have to foot the bill for services used by previous generations.
Workers’ rights
Also encouraging is the new government’s commitment to workers’ rights. Young people are disproportionately employed in the gig economy where they are often excluded from the same employment rights and protections as full-time employed colleagues, which we would argue are needed for a secure, stable life. The employment rights’ bills that will be introduced within the first 100 days of government will ban zero-hour contracts, fire and rehire practices and grant the right to flexible working, parental leave, sick pay and unfair dismissal rights to all workers from day one
Environment
The Labour manifesto was ambitious in its climate policy and the new government was quick to act, reversing the ban on onshore wind and banning the issuing of future North Sea licenses within their first week of power.
The King’s Speech announced their flagship policy – the creation of Great British Energy –which will be a publicly-owned company investing in and overseeing clean energy production. In addition, the introduction of a water bill will strengthen regulation over water companies, and help ensure non-polluted water for young and future generations.
Slightly disappointing was the announcement that a bill will be introduced to support and encourage increased investment in sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Although SAF is not inherently harmful per se, its environmental usefulness is limited if it does not prevent the release of other high-altitude emissions such as nitrous oxide (NOx) in contrails. Sadly, the bill avoids directly confronting the damaging effects that flights have on the climate. More effective policy would be the banning of domestic flights that can be taken by train, which we advocated for in our report trains over planes.
Mental health
There has been considerable progress in the funding and provision of mental health services over the last decade, yet with 1 in 5 young people suffering a mental illness, more support is still needed. The Mental Health Bill is set out to modernise mental health service provisions, decrease waiting lists and place mental illness on a par with physical illness. These plans are all welcomed.
Children
In 2022/23, 30% of children in the UK lived in poverty showing that there is a crisis that needs urgent attention. The Children’s Wellbeing Bill aims to reverse these shocking poverty levels by introducing free breakfast clubs in primary schools and decreasing the costs of children’s essentials such as school uniforms. However, much more reform is required to bring so many children out of poverty.
There was no mention of removing the two-child benefit cap which has been devastating for larger families: half of children in families with three or more children live in poverty. We will have to wait to see whether the purse strings are loosened in the first budget.
Omissions
Despite progress being made on many fronts, there were some glaring omissions in the King’s Speech in terms of intergenerational fairness. There was no comment on student finance and universities which are in immediate need of reassessment. That said, a commitment to reforming the Apprenticeship Levy was welcomed.
The most disappointing omission was no legislation on lowering the voting age to 16, despite it being pledged in Labour’s manifesto. While His Majesty said that his government will “encourage wide participation in the democratic process”, that alone will not be enough. The best way to widen democratic participation would be to lower the voting age to 16. Beyond helping correct the current intergenerational democratic deficit in UK politics, research shows that letting individuals vote when they are young means they are more likely to be politically engaged throughout their lifetime.
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