The Queen’s Speech on 19 December 2019 outlined the forthcoming legislative agenda for the Government. The full text of the speech, as well as background briefings for each of the Bills proposed for the session and a “what it means for you” brief, are now available online.

• The European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill: This legislation will ratify the deal secured by the Government in October, delivering Brexit.
• Business rates
  • The Government is committed to conducting a fundamental review of
    business rates.
  • The Government recognises the role of business rates as a source of local
    authority income and will consider input from the sector as part of the review of business rates. Further details on the review will be announced.
  • The Government is committed to increasing the retail discount from one-third to 50 per cent, extending that discount to cinemas and music venues, extending the duration of the local newspapers discount, and introducing an additional discount for pubs.
  • The Government will also progress legislation to bring forward the next business rates revaluation [in England] by one year from 2022 to 2021 and move business rates revaluations from a five-yearly cycle to a three-yearly cycle.
  • The Government suggests that “More frequent revaluations will ensure that business rates bills are more up to-date reflecting properties’ current rental values. Moving to three-yearly revaluation will make the system more responsive to changing economic conditions”.
• Taxes: The Government has committed to not raise rates of VAT, income tax and National Insurance.
• National Insurance Contributions: The Government is committed to raising the National Insurance threshold to £9,500 next year. The Government indicates that “this will be a tax cut for 31 million people, with a typical employee paying around £100 less in 2020-21.”
• Research and Development (R&D): The Government will increase the tax credit rate to 13 per cent and review what R&D-related costs qualify for tax credits, so that important investments in cloud computing and data, which boost productivity and innovation, are also incentivised. Charities have argued that their eligibility for R&D tax credits should be reinstated.
• Northern Ireland taxation: The UK Government will look to devolve responsibility for corporation tax to Stormont once the Assembly and Executive are restored and will consider the same for short-haul Air Passenger Duty.
• Armed Forces Covenant: The Government has committed to protecting armed forces personnel from tax rises in Scotland, where income tax is devolved to Holyrood.
• Tax evasion: The Government will set out further proposals to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, building on action already taken, including doubling the maximum prison term to 14 years for individuals convicted of the most egregious examples of tax fraud.
• Constitutional reform: Work will be taken forward to repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act that makes provision about the timing of parliamentary general elections. There is no reference to the proposal reported in the press about giving the lower UK courts power to overturn decisions of the European Court of Justice, but“A Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission will be established”, so watch this space.

A full list of proposals outlined in the Queen’s Speech and supporting documents can be found below.

Legislative briefs

• Agriculture Bill
• Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Bill
• Airline insolvency legislation
• Animal welfare legislation
• Birmingham Commonwealth Games Bill
• Broadband legislation
• Building Safety Bill
• Counter Terrorism (Sentencing and Release) Bill
• Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill
• Domestic Abuse Bill
• Employment Bill
• Environment Bill
• Espionage legislation
• EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill
• Extradition (Provisional Arrest) Bill
• Financial Services legislation
• Fire Safety Bill Home Office
• Fisheries Bill
• Foreign national offenders legislation
• Health Service Safety Investigations Bill
• Immigration and Social Co-ordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill
• Medicine and Medical Devices Bill
• National security and investment legislation
• NHS Funding Bill and NHS Long Term Plan
• Pension Schemes Bill Department for Work and Pensions
• Police Powers and Protections Bill
• Prisoners (Disclosure of Information About Victims) Bill
• Private International Law (Implementation of Agreements) Bill
• Public bodies boycotts legislation
• Railways (Minimum Service Levels) Bill
• Renters’ Reform Bill
• Sentencing (Preconsolidation Amendments) Bill
• Sentencing Bill
• Serious Violence Bill
• Thomas Cook Compensation Bill
• Trade Bill
• Windrush (Compensation Scheme) Bill

 Non-legislative briefs

• Business rates
• Climate change
• Constitution and democracy
• Cost of living
• Education
• English devolution
• Foreign affairs
• Integrated Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Review
• Mental health reform
• National disability strategy
• National infrastructure strategy
• Online Harms
• Public finances
• Rail reform and High Speed Rail 2 (West Midlands – Crewe) Bill
• Royal Commission on the Criminal Justice System
• Science, space and research
• Social care reform
• The Armed Forces
• The Union
• Victims law reform