King's Speech 2023 - Economic Activities of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill (carried over)

Economic Activities of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill

• The Bill delivers the manifesto commitment to ban public bodies from imposing their own boycotts, divestment, or sanctions campaigns against foreign countries.

• The Bill will ensure that the UK has a consistent foreign policy and speaks with one voice internationally. It will ensure public bodies do not waste taxpayers’ money pursuing their own foreign policy agendas.

What does the Bill do?

• The Bill will:
• • ban public bodies from taking account of territorial considerations in a way that indicates moral or political disapproval of foreign state conduct when making procurement and investment decisions.
  • ban public bodies from publishing statements indicating that they intend to engage in a boycott or divestment policies.
  • apply to all public bodies across the UK, as defined in section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
  • enable enforcement activity to ensure that public bodies comply with the ban. This includes the power for enforcement agents to investigate breaches of the ban, issue compliance notices, and impose monetary penalties.

• Public bodies that pursue their own foreign policy agendas overwhelmingly and disproportionately target Israel. The Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement calls upon public bodies to treat Israel differently from any other country on the globe. This is divisive for the communities these public bodies represent and undermines community cohesion, resulting in Kosher food being removed from supermarket shelves, Jewish films being banned from a film festival, and a student union holding a vote on blocking the formation of a Jewish student society. The Government is concerned that these campaigns are linked to rising antisemitism in the UK, particularly given the events since Hamas’s horrific attacks of 7 October.

• The Bill applies universally – to all countries equally. All public bodies across the UK, as defined in section of the Human Rights Act 1998, are included – including councils, universities, some cultural institutions, and central government bodies. It is a long-standing principle that there are restrictions on taxpayer-funded public bodies that do not apply to private bodies, including restrictions on their procurement and investment functions.

Territorial extent and application

• The Bill will extend UK-wide and apply to public bodies across the UK.

Key facts

• BDS motions have been passed by bodies across the UK. In 2021, Lancaster City Council voted to express its support for the BDS movement’s demands and wrote to its Pension Fund urging them to divest from companies active in Israeli settlements. In 2014, Leicester City Council, Swansea City Council and Gwynedd County Council passed boycott motions targeted at the Israeli Government.

• Incidents of antisemitism, recorded by the Community Security Trust (CST), rise in correlation to escalations of violence in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. This has been further demonstrated by a huge rise in reported antisemitic incidents following Hamas’s attack on Israel - the Metropolitan Police recorded an over 1000% rise in antisemitic incidents compared to the last year. When public bodies decide to boycott or divest from Israel in response violence, they legitimise and drive antisemitism.

• Sanctions policy should be determined by the UK Government. The UK already has a legal framework in the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 to impose, update and lift sanctions. Nothing in this Bill prevents the UK Government from imposing sanctions on any country.

• The Economic Activity of Public Bodies (Overseas Matters) Bill forms part of the UK’s wider package to tackle antisemitism, including:
• • the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant provides protective security measures (such as guarding, CCTV and alarm systems) at Jewish schools, colleges, nurseries, and some other Jewish community sites, as well as a number of synagogues;
  • in March 2023, the Home Secretary announced the continuation of the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, and increased funding for 2023-2024 by £1 million, to a total of £15 million. In October 2023, in the wake of Hamas’s barbaric attack on Israel, the Prime Minister announced increased funding of

£3 million for The Community Security Trust to increase patrols;