King’s Speech 2026 – Sharpe Pritchard’s Take

Sharpe Pritchard talks through the Kings' Speech, diving into the legislative plans for the year ahead.

The Government has revealed its legislative plans for the year ahead, with the King’s speech outlining a wide‑ranging programme of proposed laws, focused primarily on modernising public services, streamlining governance, and strengthening economic resilience.

There are a number of Bills mentioned in the King’s Speech that will affect Sharpe Pritchard’s clients in the public and regulatory sectors.

Here are some Bills

• An Energy Independence Bill which aims to equip ministers with further powers to reduce consumer bills and speed up the delivery of clean energy and grid infrastructure.
• A Clean Water Bill which would reform the UK water sector; imposing tougher sanctions for pollution, restrictions on executive bonuses and independent oversight of sewage discharges.
• A Nuclear Regulation Bill which aims to modernise nuclear regulation to support faster delivery of new power stations and enhance domestic energy security. The Bill would implement the recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review 2025 led by John Fingleton.
• A Remediation Bill which intends to accelerate remediation for people living in homes with defective cladding, setting mandatory deadlines for landlords.
• A Social Housing Renewal Bill which seeks to usher in a “decade of renewal” for social and affordable housing in England, with measures to boost new social rent homes, protect existing stock by limiting Right to Buy, and strengthen safety and quality standards.
• A Highways (Financing) Bill which aims to support the delivery of new, large-scaled road projects, by changing the mechanism for how major road projects in England are funded.
• A draft Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Bill which would create a national database of all licensed taxis and private hire vehicles, with the aim of strengthening passenger safety.
• A Civil Aviation Bill would reform airport slots regulation and implement airspace modernisation proposals ahead of anticipated airport expansion projects over the coming years
• A Courts Modernisation Bill, which includes proposals to limit jury trials for certain categories of offence.
• An Overnight Visitor Levy Bill which would give mayors and potentially other local leaders in England the power to charge a visitor levy (“tourist tax”) on overnight stays.
• A Digital Access to Services Bill which would introduce Digital ID, providing people with a secure proof of identity for use across public services and the wider economy, removing the need for physical documentation.

We will be keeping an eye out on progress and commenting in more detail as and when relevant bills are published.

These new Bills are in addition to some that have been carried over from the last session of Parliament (including the Bill for the “Hillsborough Law” which we commented on here and the carried over Representation of the People Bill, which was the focus of one of our recent webinars).

Watch this space!

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This article is for general awareness only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this page was first published. If you would like further advice and assistance in relation to any issue raised in this article, please contact us by telephone or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..