News feature

Queen's Speech 2019

On 14 October, the Queen's Speech set out the government’s policies and proposed legislation for the new parliamentary session.

This article highlights those bills in the Queen's Speech that will be of most relevance to lawyers.

Brexit

The government confirmed that its priority is to secure the UK’s departure from the EU on 31 October and the government will seek to bring forward a European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill.

The government will also bring forward the following:

• an Agriculture Bill, a Fisheries Bill and a Trade Bill as well as an Immigration and Social Security Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill which would end free movement of people in the UK.

Financial and legal services

The government will bring forward a Financial Services Bill and a Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Bill to 'provide certainty, stability and new opportunities for the financial and legal sectors'.

Justice

The Domestic Abuse Bill has been carried over from the previous session, and the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill, which fell at the end of the last session, has been reintroduced (see below). In addition, the government announced a number of new bills in this area:

• the Domestic Abuse Bill will create new protections for domestic abuse victims;
• the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill will aim to minimise the impact of divorce on children and will provide for no-fault divorces
• the Serious Violence Bill will create a new duty on public agencies to put in place plans to prevent serious violence;
• the Extradition (Provisional Arrest) Bill would create a new power to enable the immediate arrest of fugitives after the issuing of an Interpol Red Notice;
• the Sentencing Bill will change the automatic release point for adult offenders serving prison sentences of four or more years for serious violent or sexual offences from halfway to the two-thirds point;
• the Foreign National Offenders Bill would increase the maximum penalty for foreign national offenders who breach a deportation order;
• a new Victims’ Law will be consulted on in early 2020 with the publication of a new Victims’ Code;
• a Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Bill will ensure that the Parole Board considers whether offenders have disclosed key information about their crimes to victims and their families in assessing them for parole;
• the Police Protections Bill will establish a police covenant on a statutory footing to provide protections for police officers; and
• a Sentencing (Pre-consolidation Amendments) Bill will make technical changes to the law to enable a consolidation of existing law on sentencing.

In addition, the government will bring forward a Health Service Safety Investigations Bill and also seek to reform of the Mental Health Act.