On Wednesday 17 July, King Charles III set out the Government’s agenda for the next parliamentary session. It was a bumper speech, setting out almost 40 bills and draft bills.
Our funded partners represent many of the groups experiencing the worst levels of hardship in London. Here, we bring together a collection of responses to the King’s Speech on some of the key issues affecting Londoners.
Building more homes
One of the new government’s areas of focus has been on building new homes. It confirmed plans to reform the planning system and greater devolution powers to transform the housing system and "get Britain building".
But to tackle the housing crisis will require a generational effort to build vastly more social homes - something which wasn't mentioned in the speech.
Our partners New Economics Foundation and Social Market Foundation both questioned the reliance on the private market to tackle the crisis.
Stronger rights for renters
The King announced that renters will be given stronger rights, including ending Section 21 (“no-fault”) evictions.
The reaction to this has been positive. But after delays to ending “no-fault” evictions under the previous government, renters' rights groups urge the government to make renting much fairer and introduce greater protections to restore trust.
Workers’ rights
The King’s Speech also had a strong focus on workers’ rights. In its first 100 days in office, the Government has pledged the Employment Rights Bill, which will parental leave and sick pay, ban exploitative zero-hour contracts, and bring in a series of other reforms to employment rights.
There was much to celebrate in this announcement. For example, the Bill includes several commitments to improve protection from maternity discrimination – meeting a number of Maternity Action’s #EndPregnancyPoverty campaign demands. Read their reaction to the King’s Speech here.
The Work Rights Centre stressed that the government must also focus on the high risk of exploitation many migrant workers face.
Low pay
The government also announced plans to deliver a “genuine living wage”, that meets the cost-of-living. This will also remove age bands, meaning all adult workers will have the same minimum wage.
It’s not clear exactly how this will look yet, but with more than half of adult Londoners in poverty in employment it’s an important step to reducing the high levels of poverty in our capital city.
What wasn’t mentioned – social security
Although there were lots of mentions of some of the key drivers of poverty – such as wages and housing – social security was conspicuous by its absence.
To really tackle poverty, we need a safety net that we can all rely on to make ends meet – especially when we need it most. The millions of families struggling right now can’t wait for longer term measures to take effect.
In particular, many organisations have been calling on the government to scrap the two-child limit. Almost 1.8 million children are affected by the policy. Scrapping it would lift hundreds of thousands out of poverty.
And despite high levels of poverty in the country – exacerbated by the cost of living crisis – poverty itself was largely missing from the speech.
However, the government has committed to an ambitious child poverty strategy. In the hours after the King’s Speech, it made the welcome announcement of a new child poverty taskforce to look at the issue.