It will support jobs, businesses and our economy, while
delivering the Government’s commitments to create safer
streets and neighbourhoods and achieve net zero
greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, for a cleaner,
greener UK.
The new measures will build on the progress so far, in
spite of the pandemic, following a period that also saw
the UK become an independent nation outside the EU.
Prime Minister
said:
The impact of the pandemic on people’s lives has been
unique in our history.
My Government is still focussed on beating this
disease, saving lives and livelihoods and rolling out
vaccines, but I am also determined that we look
forward and get on with fulfilling the promises we
have made to the British people.
Not only will we address the legacies of the
pandemic, we will go further to unite and level up
the country, fight crime and create opportunities up
and down the country for businesses and families to
build brighter futures.
The State Opening of Parliament on Tuesday follows the
delivery of 44 bills in the last Parliamentary session,
including the legal framework to help us strike new
trade deals around the world and powers to regain
control over our borders.
A number of bills will be carried over to complete
their passage in the next session. This includes the
Environment Bill, which will set legally binding
environmental targets, and cement the UK’s leadership
on climate change, as we host the international COP26
Summit in Glasgow later this year.
Laws to protect the public, support our police and
deliver Manifesto commitments to cut crime will also
return, with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts
Bill set to overhaul sentencing to keep serious sexual
and violent offenders behind bars for longer.
The bill will also double the maximum sentence for
assaulting people in the emergency services, who have
worked night and day to keep us safe during the
pandemic, and build confidence in the criminal justice
system by speeding up justice, modernising courts and
reforming bail to better protect vulnerable victims and
witnesses.
To tackle knife crime and youth violence, the bill will
give the police new powers to stop and search those
convicted of knife and offensive weapons offences.
Police, local authorities and other agencies will also
have a new, legal duty to work together to address the
root causes of serious violence and intervene earlier
to prevent these crimes from happening in the first
place.
These changes follow the delivery of the new
Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act, which ends the
prospect of early release for anyone convicted of a
serious terror offence, and the Domestic Abuse Act,
which will transform our response and provide greater
protections from all forms of abuse.
Together these serve as examples of the Government’s
commitment to deliver on the promises made to the
British people before the pandemic.
The Government’s agenda, to be set out in next week’s
Queen’s Speech, will continue to reflect that ambition
to not only fight COVID-19 and recover from its
impacts, but to build back better.
