Kier Starmer and the Labour Party are set to announce their plans for the rest of the year at tomorrow’s King Speech, with around 35 draft laws expected to be announced.
King Charles will read out the speech to Parliament at around 11.30 am on Wednesday and is expected to tackle topics ranging from illegal migration to mental health support.
Here are some of the things economists and investors may be looking out for.
Housing
Labour made promises to build more houses one of the centre points of its successful election campaign and it is expected to feature heavily tomorrow.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already pledged to overhaul the planning system and relaunch housing targets.
No-fault evictions are expected to be scrapped, while a range of building safety rules are also set to be introduced.
Fergus Charlton, a partner in law firm Michlemores' planning practice said: “The focus on streamlining planning processes, setting clear targets, and unlocking new land for development seems a strong foundation for boosting housing supply and infrastructure development.
“However, the re-branding of green belt to grey belt will be contentious. There are powerful lobbies who consider the green belt to be sacrosanct.”
Worker rights
Another promise of Labour was that within 100 days of office, the party would introduce legislation aimed at improving worker rights.
Businesses and unions are expected to be consulted on the plans, which include banning zero-hour contracts, removing qualifying times for unfair dismissal, and changes to sick pay and parental leave rights.
Energy Company
One of Starmer’s plans which caused the greatest reaction amongst the small-cap markets, was the decision to create GB Energy, a new state-owned energy company funded through windfall taxes.
Back when it was announced in June, several small-sized oil and gas firms saw their share prices sink, not helped by the added plans to no longer award new licences in the North Sea.
GB Energy will invest in renewable energy projects and will even generate power, albeit not for direct-to-consumer sales.
It will have a budget of £8.3 billion over the next five years and is placed to help the goal of decarbonising the electricity grid by the end of the decade.
Offshore Energies UK, which represents more than 400 groups in the industry, said its members were “deeply concerned” about the legislation.
Boss David Whitehouse said: “Labour’s leadership has recognised that North Sea oil and gas will be with us for decades to come and they have committed to managing this strategic national asset in a way that does not jeopardise jobs.
“They now need to deliver on their commitment to support our industry and work in partnership with us.”
Railway nationalisation
Nearly all passenger rail services are set to be nationalised under Starmer and similar to the energy industry, Great British Railways will be set up to oversee the transition.
GB Railways will allow the government to take over operating services once franchise contracts run out.
How this affects companies like ticket seller Trainline remains to be seen, but analysts like Mark Crouch at eToro believe firms will be “apprehensive” about the future.
Smoking and vaping
Sunak’s smoking and vaping bills, which included a landmark ban on buying cigarettes for those born after 2009, are likely to be resurrected by Labour after it was shelved due to the election.
Other areas
New rules will be introduced to make sure the Office of Budget Responsibility forecasts the effects of “significant changes to taxation or spending" following Truss’ mini-budget disaster.
Police are expected to receive new powers to help fight against anti-social behaviour following a spate of shoplifting and violence against retail workers.
As part of a new Crime and Policing Bill, it will be a specific crime to assault shopworkers – a move made after more than a year of campaigning by retail companies.
Private schools will see VAT and business rates imposed on private school fees, although the changes aren’t expected to come into effect until September 2025.