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Following the resignation of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss became prime minister on 6 September 2022. Rishi Sunak then became prime minister on 25 October 2022 following the resignation of Liz Truss. The changes of prime minister caused some of the government’s policies to be revisited. As a result, the government confirmed several bills would either be paused or dropped.

1. Bills introduced and dropped during the 2022–23 session

The following bills announced in the 2022 Queen’s Speech were dropped:

  • Schools Bill [HL]. This bill included clauses that would have changed the structure and regulation of academies, implemented a direct funding formula, introduced a register for children not in school, increased Ofsted’s power to inspect non-registered schools, and strengthened the current teacher misconduct regime. It was introduced in the House of Lords on 11 May 2022. The government announced in June 2022 that 18 clauses dealing with the regulation of academies and trusts would be removed from the bill.[1] The bill reached report stage in the Lords on 12 July 2022. On 24 October 2022, the then education secretary, Kit Malthouse, confirmed the bill had been paused following Liz Truss becoming prime minister.[2] On 7 December 2022, the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, confirmed the bill as a whole would not progress.[3]
  • Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. This bill would have introduced reforms to animal welfare, including the banning of live exports. It was carried over from the 2021–22 session and received second reading in the House of Commons on 11 May 2022. However, no further stages took place during the 2021–22 session. On 25 May 2023, the minister for food, farming and fisheries at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Mark Spencer, announced the government would not progress the bill.[4] He said the government would instead introduce some of the measures individually as single-issue bills.
  • Bill of Rights Bill. This bill would have repealed the Human Rights Act 1998 and replaced it with a new framework to implement the European Convention on Human Rights. It was introduced in the House of Commons in June 2022. Second reading had been provisionally scheduled to take place on 12 September 2022. However, this was postponed when Liz Truss became prime minister. On 23 September 2022, the government said it was reviewing the bill.[5] On 27 June 2023, Rishi Sunak’s government confirmed that the bill would be withdrawn.[6] The bill’s second reading debate did not take place.

In addition to these bills, the government withdrew the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, a bill to reform the UK’s data protection regime. The bill received first reading in the House of Commons on 18 July 2022. On 14 October 2022, Julia Lopez, then minister of state at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said the bill was being reviewed by ministers and it would continue its stages in the Commons in due course.[7] The bill was then withdrawn before the second reading debate took place. The government introduced a similar bill, the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill, on 8 March 2023. In a written ministerial statement, Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology Michelle Donelan said this bill would supersede the original bill.[8] She asserted the new bill would reduce compliance costs for the digital sector compared with the original bill and give greater reassurance to organisations concerning processing personal data.

This bill was carried over into the 2023–24 session as the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. Report stage and third reading in the House of Commons took take place on 29 November 2023. The bill is currently in the House of Lords and second reading took place on 19 December 2023. A date for the beginning of committee stage has yet to be announced. Further information on this bill is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Data Protection and Digital Information Bill’ (13 December 2023).

2. Bills not included in the 2022 Queen’s Speech that were introduced and then dropped

Two further bills not announced in the 2022 Queen’s Speech were withdrawn during the 2022–23 session. These were the Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill and the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill:

  • The 2022 Queen’s Speech included a transport bill to “modernise rail services and improve reliability for passengers”.[9] In December 2022 Transport Secretary Mark Harper told the House of Commons Transport Committee that the government would not introduce a transport bill that session.[10] However, the government did introduce the Transport Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. This would have established minimum service levels for rail services during industrial action. This bill received first reading in the House of Commons on 20 October 2022. The bill did not receive a second reading and was superseded by the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023. This was introduced in January 2023 and received royal assent on 20 July 2023.
  • In June 2022 the government introduced the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. This bill would have excluded some provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol from applying in domestic law. It received first reading in the House of Commons on 13 June 2022. It then completed its stages in the House of Commons and was introduced in the House of Lords on 21 July 2022. However, the bill was dropped following the announcement of the Windsor Framework between the UK and the EU in February 2023.[11]

3. Bills continuing into the 2023–24 session

In addition to the Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill, several bills announced in the 2022 Queen’s Speech were carried over into the new session and included in the 2023 King’s Speech:

  • Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill. This bill was referred to in the 2022 Queen’s Speech as the Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Bill. The government has said the purpose of this bill is to prevent public bodies, such as councils, from “imposing their own boycott or divestment campaigns against foreign countries and territories”.[12] The bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 19 June 2023 and reached report stage on 25 October 2023 at the end of the 2022–23 session before being carried over. Third reading took place in the House of Commons on 11 January 2024 and the bill is currently in the House of Lords. The date for second reading of the bill in the House of Lords is 20 February 2024. Further information on this bill is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill’ (30 January 2024).
  • Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill. This bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 25 April 2023. The bill would establish a new competition regime for digital markets.[13] It was carried over into the 2023–24 session with report stage in the House of Commons taking place on 20 November 2023 and third reading taking place on 21 November 2023. Second reading of the bill in the House of Lords took place on 5 December 2023 and the bill completed committee stage on 7 February 2024. The date of report stage has yet to be confirmed. Further information on this bill is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill’ (1 December 2023).
  • Victims and Prisoners Bill. The 2022 Queen’s Speech included a draft victims bill. This bill was published in draft form in May 2022 and was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by the House of Commons Justice Committee.[14] The government introduced the Victims and Prisoners Bill in the House of Commons on 29 March 2023. The bill seeks to introduce various measures to support victims, reform the parole system and impose certain restrictions on prisoners serving whole life orders. It completed committee stage in the House of Commons before being carried over into the 2023–24 session. Report stage and third reading in the House of Commons took place on 4 December 2023. The bill’s second reading in the House of Lords took place on 18 December 2023 and the bill is currently at committee stage. Further information on this bill is provided in the House of Lords Library briefing ‘Victims and Prisoners Bill’ (13 December 2023).
  • Renters (Reform) Bill. This bill outlines reforms to the rental market, including the abolition of so-called ‘no fault’ evictions. It was introduced in the House of Commons on 17 May 2023 and began Commons committee stage on 14 November 2023 after being carried into the 2023–24 session. A date for report stage in the House of Commons has yet to be confirmed.

In addition to these bills, the High Speed Rail (Crewe–Manchester) Bill was also carried over into the new session. This hybrid bill was introduced on 24 January 2022 during the 2021–22 session. The government announced in October 2023 that phase 2 of the high speed rail project (HS2) would not be going ahead.[15] Notwithstanding this change in policy, the government confirmed on 8 November 2023 that the bill would be carried over into the 2023–24 session.[16] A date for the bill’s next stage in the House of Commons—committee stage—has yet to be announced.

The 2022 Queen’s Speech also included a media bill. The government said this bill would include reforms to the law governing public service broadcasters and enable changes to be made to the ownership of Channel 4. This bill was not introduced during the 2022–23 session. However, a draft media bill was published by the government in March 2023, excluding proposals to change the ownership of Channel 4. The government introduced the Media Bill in the House of Commons on 8 November 2023 after the 2023 King’s Speech. The bill completed committee stage on 12 December 2023 and report stage took place on 30 January 2024. Second reading in the House of Lords is scheduled to take place on 28 February 2024.

4. Bills not introduced

Some of the bills in the 2022 Queen’s Speech were never introduced. These were:

  • The higher education bill, which the government said would support lifelong learning and tackle the growth of low-quality courses. During the 2022–23 session, the government introduced the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Act 2023, which received royal assent on 18 September 2023. This introduced a new method of calculating the maximum tuition fees for higher education courses in England based on a measurement of learning time known as ‘credits’. The government said this would support learners to access education flexibly throughout their working lives. The government did not introduce legislation concerning the growth of low-quality courses during the 2022–23 session. However, it said it would introduce new statutory guidance for the regulator, the Office for Students.
  • The conversion therapy (prohibition) bill, a bill to ban conversion therapy. In January 2023, the government announced it would publish a draft bill.[17] However, no draft bill was included in the 2023 King’s Speech.
  • The modern slavery bill, a bill to strengthen the protection and support of victims of human trafficking and modern slavery. This bill was not included in the 2023 King’s Speech.

5. Read more

The House of Lords Library has published the following briefings on new bills announced in the 2023 King’s Speech following their introduction in the House of Lords this session:

Cover image: Copyright House of Lords 2019/photography by Roger Harris on Flickr. A link to the House of Lords Library briefing on the Media Bill was added on 13 February 2024.

References

  1. Department for Education, ‘Letter from Baroness Barran to peers regarding the Schools Bill: Amendments for report stage clauses 1–18’, 30 June 2022, DEP2022-0554. Return to text
  2. HC Hansard, 24 October 2022, col 19. Return to text
  3. House of Commons Education Committee, ‘Oral evidence: Accountability hearings’, 7 December 2022, HC 58 of session 2022–23, Q237. Return to text
  4. HC Hansard, 25 May 2023, col 495. Return to text
  5. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Human rights: Reform (51747)’, 23 September 2022. Return to text
  6. HC Hansard, 27 June 2023, col 145. Return to text
  7. House of Commons, ‘Written question: Data Protection and Digital Information Bill (63309)’, 19 October 2022. Return to text
  8. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: Data Protection and Digital Information (No. 2) Bill (HCWS617)’, 8 March 2023. Return to text
  9. HL Hansard, 10 May 2022, col 2. Return to text
  10. House of Commons Transport Committee, ‘Oral evidence: Work of the secretary of state for transport’, 7 December 2022, HC 163 of session 2022–23, Q430. Return to text
  11. Prime Minister’s Office et al, ‘The Windsor Framework: Further detail and publications’, 9 June 2023. Return to text
  12. Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, ‘UK public bodies banned from imposing their own boycotts against foreign countries’, 19 June 2023. Return to text
  13. Explanatory notes to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill 2022–23, p 3. Return to text
  14. House of Commons Justice Committee, ‘Pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft victims bill’, 30 September 2022, HC 304 of session 2022–23. Return to text
  15. Conservative Party, ‘Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wrapped up Conservative Party conference 2023’, 4 October 2023. Return to text
  16. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: The government’s legislative programme 2023 (HCWS6)’, 8 November 2023. Return to text
  17. House of Commons, ‘Written statement: Online safety update (HCWS500)’, 17 January 2023. Return to text