Five ways the King's Speech will impact Scots: From ticket touts to small business
There are measures which impact ticket touts, immigration and small businesses in this year’s speech.
Today is one of the biggest days in the Westminster calendar, but it has been largely overshadowed by speculation about Sir Keir Starmer’s future.
The King’s Speech is when the UK Government sets out its bills for the parliamentary term.
King Charles makes the statement in the House of Lords, although it is written by the Government.
This year’s speech contained a whole host of measures, from ticket touts to immigration.
Here are the main ways Scots will be affected.
Europe
The King said that the UK Government will “introduce legislation to take advantage of new trading opportunities, including a Bill to strengthen ties with the European Union.
The bill will “set the stage for new agreements on food and drink, emissions trading and electricity.” This will “reduce barriers to trade, cut costs for businesses, and drive growth and investment.”
The aim is that these deals will boost the economy by £9 billion, reduce food price inflation and reduce electricity prices.
Votes for 16-year-olds in general elections
Although 16 and 17-year-olds can vote in Holyrood and council elections in Scotland, general elections are currently only for over 18s.
But the UK Government will now extend the vote to everyone over 16 with the Representation of People Bill.
The bill will also widen the range of ID that can be used at polling stations and run a pilot of automatic voter registration.
It will also introduce tougher rules on political donations - seemingly reacting to big foreign gifts to Reform UK.
Ticket touts
In what is due to be a crowd-pleaser, the UK Government will introduce a bill which will make it illegal to resell a ticket for a live event at more than its original cost.
It will also cap the service fees on resale platforms and make it illegal to resell more tickets than a person was originally entitled to buy.
The Government reckons this will reduce the average ticket price by £37.
Immigration
In one of the more controversial parts of the King’s Speech, the UK Government confirmed it will bring in a bill to reform the asylum system.
The Immigration and Asylum Bill will “reduce the number of legal challenges and reduce costs by incentivising refugess to work.”
It will also “scale up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK” and tighten rules “to prevent exploitation of the system.”
The Bill will require asylum seekers in taxpayer-funded housing and other support to “contribute to the cost born by the British taxpayer once they are able to do so”.
This is likely to be unpopular with Labour MPs, who are broadly against tightening rules for asylum seekers.
Late payments to small businesses
The King said that “legislation will be introduce to tackle late payments” to small businesses.
The Government has said that the “scourge of late payments” costs the UK economy £11 billion a year and leads to the closure of 38 businesses each day.
The aim of the bill is to make the UK a better place to start and run a business.
The Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill will impose maximum payment terms of 60 days, enforce mandatory interest for late payments and introduce a time limit for invoice disputes.
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