The King has opened the new parliamentary session and announced a number of Bills that may be relevant from a commercial, technology and regulatory perspective. We summarise the key proposals below and will cover them in more detail as they are introduced to Parliament.

Commercial

The government proposes to introduce a European Partnership Bill aimed at improving the UK's trade and investment relationship with the EU by facilitating implementation of new agreements reached with the EU, both now and in the future. This includes agreements relating to electricity, emissions trading, and food and drink.

We have recently written about the government's plans to tackle late payment of commercial invoices. It now proposes a Small Business Protections (Late Payments) Bill covering domestic UK transactions. The Bill would impose maximum payment terms of 60 days, require mandatory interest on late payments at 8% above the Bank of England base rate, introduce a time limit for raising invoice disputes, require boards or audit committees of persistently late-paying large companies to publish commentary on poor payment performance and the steps they intend to take, and give the Small Business Commissioner new enforcement powers.

The government is also planning an Overnight Visitor Levy Bill for England, which would introduce powers to impose a levy to raise and invest money in projects intended to improve local areas, raise living standards and drive growth.

We have also written about the issues arising in the secondary ticketing market. The government will publish a Draft Ticket Tout Ban Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. The draft Bill would make it unlawful to resell a ticket for a live event at more than its original price, cap the service fees charged by resale platforms, prohibit the resale of more tickets than the seller was originally entitled to buy on the primary market, impose strict obligations on ticket resale platforms, and allow the CMA to impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover.

The government is also planning a Sporting Events Bill to provide a common legislative framework for major sporting events in the UK. In addition to the proposed ticket touting measures, it would protect commercial rights by introducing a UK-wide prohibition on unauthorised association with a sporting event, together with restrictions on advertising and trading around event locations.

Technology

Let's start this section with something that is conspicuous in its absence: any substantive legislation on AI. Despite the government's stated ambitions in this area, there is no dedicated AI Bill. 

AI does, however, crop up in the margins of other proposals. The Regulating for Growth Bill is looking to create cross-economy "sandboxing powers", letting businesses test new products and technologies (AI included) in real-world settings under controlled conditions. The briefing notes to the Speech spell this out, referring to cross-cutting AI sandboxes that enable "responsible testing and adoption of AI-enabled products and services across multiple sectors where existing regulatory frameworks currently slow innovation."

The NHS Modernisation Bill offers another glimpse on AI. The Bill references harnessing digital technologies and unlocking the value of health data. The briefing notes highlight that AI could materially improve healthcare capacity, outperforming 78–90% of radiologists on certain prediction tasks.

The picture, then, is clear enough. For now, rather than introducing standalone AI legislation, the government is threading AI through sector-specific reform and regulatory sandboxes. Moving to cybersecurity, back in 2024, we wrote about possible reforms to the Computer Misuse Act 1990. Among other things, the National Security Bill will update that Act, giving law enforcement more modern powers and capabilities for the digital age. This will include the creation of a Cyber Crime Risk Order to impose robust controls on the behaviour of cyber criminals, alongside new powers to search individuals believed to be concealing evidence on behalf of suspects. It will also unlock the role of cybersecurity professionals by better enabling them to secure computer systems. It will be interesting to see whether it also addresses the issue highlighted by the Post Office Horizon cases, where computer evidence is treated as reliable unless the contrary is proved.

The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill was carried over from the previous parliamentary session and is intended to strengthen the UK's defences by updating existing legislation to protect essential services from cyberattacks.

The government also plans a Digital Access to Services Bill, introducing digital ID. The Bill would establish the legal framework for the government to create, issue and use digital ID. It would also specify the information the credential will contain and provide for how it may be issued, maintained, stored and verified, together with eligibility requirements. The Bill is also intended to support the join-up of public services, alongside appropriate safeguards.

A Representation of the People Bill will also be introduced. Among other things, it will improve the transparency of digital imprint rules (mandatory disclosures that indicate who is responsible for promoting online content, particularly in political advertising) and place enforcement on a clearer and more proportionate footing. More people will be required to include digital imprints on their digital campaigning material.

Regulatory

The government has also announced a Competition Reform Bill, aimed at supporting the CMA's operational transformation, making competition investigations faster and more predictable, reducing unnecessary burdens on businesses, and ensuring that consumers benefit sooner, while protecting the CMA's independence.

The Regulating for Growth Bill (see above) is designed to, in the government's words, "make the UK's regulatory system fit for the future so that it plays a full role in delivering growth and supporting innovation".  Among other things, the Bill would strengthen the Growth Duty.

The National Security Bill (see above) will also, among other things, criminalise the creation and sharing of the most harmful violent material, with the aim of stopping the spread of content that glorifies, trivialises or normalises serious violence.

The government is also proposing reforms to the rail and aviation sectors, including consumer protection measures.

Should I be doing anything now?

Many of these measures are still at an early stage, but businesses in affected sectors should begin assessing where operational, contractual and compliance changes may be needed, particularly where the proposals would introduce stricter enforcement powers or new reporting obligations. As ever, the legislative timetable will be subject to the political environment, and businesses should be prepared for the possibility that shifting priorities at the top of government could well alter the pace or shape of these reforms.