Queen’s Speech 2022

The State Opening of Parliament is scheduled to take place on 10 May 2022.

The State Opening marks the beginning of the parliamentary session. Its main purpose is for the monarch to formally open Parliament and, in the Queen’s Speech, outline the Government’s proposed policies and legislation for the coming parliamentary session.

This briefing identifies issues and bills that may appear in the Queen’s Speech.

Section 2 reviews legislation that has already been introduced the House of Commons and carried over, or was published in draft, in the current session. Section 3 covers plans for legislation, announced in the May 2021 Queen’s Speech, that have not progressed and might still form part of the Government’s plans.

Section 4 looks at statements or press speculation indicating particular issues are likely to be the subject of future legislation.

General information on the State Opening ceremony is provided in Section 5.

Section 6 is a summary of the progress of bills announced in the Queen’s Speech at the beginning of the 2021-22 Session. Details of all Government bills introduced in this Session can be found on the Find a Bill webpages.

Which bills are in progress?

For a bill to be ‘carried over’ into the next session, a motion must be agreed by the Commons. After the second reading of the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill 2021-22 a carry-over motion was agreed.

Motions to allow the following bills to be carried over have been tabled in the Commons:

• Online Safety Bill 2021-22 (scheduled to be considered on 19 April 2022);
• Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill 2021-22 (scheduled to be considered on 25 April 2022);
• Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2021-22 (scheduled to be considered on 25 April 2022); and
• High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill 2021-22, a hybrid bill, (scheduled to be considered on 25 April 2022);

Two draft bills were published in 2021-22, one has been formally introduced:

• Draft Downstream Oil Resilience Bill
• Draft Online Safety Bill (introduced and to be carried-over).

Some bills that were announced in the May 2021 Queen’s Speech were not taken forward but may appear in the coming session. These are:

• Animals Abroad Bill
• Counter-State Threats Bill
• Legacy Bill
• Planning Bill
• Procurement Bill

Some topics that were mentioned in the briefing that accompanied the 2021 Queen’s Speech but have not been taken forward included:

• Renters’ Reform Bill
• Victims Bill
• Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions Bill.

Potential subjects of legislation

The following areas may become subjects of legislation in the 2022-23 Session:

• Social Housing Regulation
• Prison and probation scrutiny bodies
• Leasehold and commonhold reform
• Review of retained EU law
• Schools policy:
  • Home education
  • School funding
  • Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms
• Lifelong Loan Entitlement
• Reform of the Mental Health Act
• Economic crime
• Digital markets reform
• Financial services
• Access to cash
• Audit reform
• Insolvency reform
• Parole Board reform
• Levelling up
• Local government
• Bill of Rights (Human Rights)
• Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation
• Counter-terrorism strategy: ‘Protect duty’
• Conversion therapy
• Modern slavery
• Gene editing
• National minimum wage for ferry crews
• Channel 4 ownership
• Consolidation of immigration legislation
• Trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand

Other information

Nikki da Costa, a former Director of Legislative Affairs, now a specialist partner at Flint, has published a blog post outlining her expectation of bills likely to be included in the Queen’s Speech.

The BBC has also published information on what news laws could be announced in the Queen’s Speech.

The Library briefing, State opening of Parliament – history and ceremonial, reviews how the ceremonial and practical arrangements of the State opening of Parliament have changed over time.