Plans to ditch EU legislation from UK law are among the bills to have received royal assent from the King this week. A total of eight new pieces of legislation have passed the final stage of the Parliamentary process and have now become law.
New laws are put forward as bills and are then debated in each House of Parliament - the Commons and the Lords. Once they have been approved by both Houses they receive Royal Assent. The bill then becomes law and is known as an Act.
Other new laws that have been granted royal assent this week include an act that will curb the trade of shark fins and another that allows changes to prisoner release dates.
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Ditching EU law from UK legislation
The government’s watered-down plans to ditch EU legislation from UK law now have royal assent from the King. MPs were informed on Thursday, June 29, that the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act has become law.
Ministers earlier this year abandoned a planned “sunset” clause to scrap all laws carried over from the trade bloc by the end of 2023. Rishi Sunak faced criticism from Brexit supporters in his party after it was announced that around 600 laws were expected to be revoked by the end of the year, rather than the 4,000 previously pledged.
The climbdown was cautiously welcomed by critics in business and environmental groups who had warned the project was unfeasible and that important regulations would be scrapped without proper scrutiny.
Announcing the change, Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said at the time: “Getting rid of EU law in the UK should be about more than a race to a deadline." The House of Lords later engaged in a stand-off with the government over the plans, amid concerns about the power the Act handed to ministers and whether it provided enough environmental protections.
This came to end earlier in the week, which paved the way for the legislation to become law.
Controlling the financial services rulebook
A landmark bill to regain control of the financial services rulebook has also been granted royal assent. The government says the Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 is central to delivering its vision to "grow the economy and create an open, sustainable, and technologically advanced financial services sector".
The government says the new legislation "seizes the opportunities of Brexit by tailoring financial services regulation to fit UK markets" and "bolsters the competitiveness of the UK as a global financial centre".
Economic secretary to the Treasury, Andrew Griffith, said: “2023 is proving to be a banner year for reforming our financial services. This landmark piece of legislation gives us control of our financial services rulebook, so it supports UK businesses and consumers and drives growth. By repealing old EU laws set in Brussels it will unlock billions in investment – cash that can unlock innovation and grow the economy.”
End to the citizenship limbo faced by tens of thousands of Brits
New legislation has been introduced to clarify the status of people born in the UK to EU, EEA and Swiss nationals between specified dates. The bill was fast-tracked through Parliament and designed to provide legal certainty to the status of some 167,000 individuals born in the UK.
Under the British Nationality Act 1981, an individual who is born in the UK is a British citizen automatically from birth when one of their parents is British or settled here. Between 1 January 1983 and 1 October 2000, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals were considered settled if they were living in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland and exercising a free movement right there.
The British Nationality (Regularisation of Past Practice) Act 2023 confirms this position in law. The government has said that this protects the nationality rights of people born in the UK to a parent who was considered settled on the basis of exercising a free movement right, and those who registered or naturalised as British citizens on the basis of that policy.
The government added that this change does not create ‘new’ British citizens - but it does protect the citizenship of individuals who were considered British already under established Home Office policy.
Ban on the import and export of shark fins
Another new law bans the import and export of detached shark fins, including all products containing shark fins such as tinned shark fin soup. The Shark Fins Act marks a major step in cementing the UK as a global leader in shark conservation, according to the government.
Shark finning is the "cruel and wasteful practice of removing a shark’s fins at sea and discarding the finless body back in the water", the government said.
The practice has been banned in the UK since 2003 through the Shark Finning Regulation, and since 2009 a ‘Fins Naturally Attached’ policy has been enforced to further combat illegal finning of sharks in UK waters and by UK vessels worldwide. The new legislation goes further by preventing the trade of detached shark fins and related products obtained using this method.
Better protections for mutual company assets
Another new law aims to give co-operative societies the potential to invest more money in tackling the cost-of-living crisis, decarbonisation and other major issues. It will offer better protections on mutual company assets if the business is taken over by investors.
Mutuals are organisations owned by, and run for, their members. Industry estimates suggest that mutual insurers and friendly societies support the savings, pensions, protection and healthcare needs of over 30 million people in the UK, according to the government.
A Private Members Bill on Co-operatives, Mutuals and Friendly Societies has granted the Treasury the power to bring forward regulations to give those mutuals further flexibility in determining for themselves the best strategies for their business, relating to their surplus capital. The government says this will provide additional safeguards against demutualisation for the societies that choose to adopt the so-called “asset lock”.
The bill is therefore a "valuable opportunity to support mutuals who wish to ensure that their underlying assets, in many cases built up over centuries by members pooling their resources together for the greater good, are protected and the mutual model preserved into the future", the government said.
The bill will make these asset locks harder to unpick, it said, and will provide additional safeguards against demutualisation – where a mutual becomes a company with shareholders, a process which can, in some cases, aim to capture the asset value of the mutual as a windfall.
Abuse victims can get child maintenance payments without interacting with former partners
The Child Support Collection (Domestic Abuse) Act 2023 will allow the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) to intervene in cases where abuse is evident, using its powers to collect and make payments. This set-up, called Collect and Pay, is already used by 37 per cent of parents using the CMS, and provides extra protections for parents who have experienced domestic abuse by managing payments and avoiding the need for contact - preventing perpetrators from inflicting financial abuse and control.
Work and Pensions Minister Viscount Younger of Leckie said: “Domestic abuse and coercive control are abhorrent crimes. This positive change will enhance our existing support for domestic abuse victims and ensure they can make a child maintenance claim without the fear of having to deal with an abusive ex-partner.”
The new law will build on the CMS’s existing procedures to protect both paying and receiving parents who are vulnerable to domestic abuse, ensuring more children in separated families are supported, the government said.
Vulnerable prisoners allowed to be released up to two days early
A new bill aimed at reducing the rate of prisoner reoffending has also been granted royal assent.
Around one in three prisoners leave custody on a Friday – giving them just a few short hours to access critical support, such as finding a bed for the night, registering with a GP and signing up with the job centre, before services shut for the weekend. The Offenders (Day of Release from Detention) Bill gives prison governors the power to release prisoners with mental health issues, substance misuse problems or who have far to travel home, on a Wednesday or Thursday instead.
This will end the damaging race against the clock for prison leavers to get the help they need before many support services close for the weekend - which in turn increases their risk of reoffending and puts the public at risk.
Research shows that an offender’s release day can make a difference to that person’s likelihood of reoffending, and those with stable accommodation lined up are 50 per cent less likely to commit further offences, the government said. Only prisoners who pass security checks will be considered eligible for release, with the final decision taken by prison governors when the Act comes into force in the coming weeks.
Prisons Minister Damian Hinds said: "Cutting crime and protecting the public is my top priority and ending Friday releases is a significant but common-sense change that will do exactly that. By maximising the time people have when they leave prison to get a job, a home and access drug treatment we can continue to drive down reoffending rates."
Driving out rogue landlords
New housing legislation aimed at driving out rogue landlords will come into force after being granted royal assent. The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 will bolster regulation of accommodation used to house people dealing with addiction issues, prison leavers, rough sleepers, and people who have escaped domestic abuse.
Homelessness charity Crisis said new laws will help thousands of people currently forced to live in squalor and insecurity. It will create new duties and powers for local authorities to improve oversight of accommodation providers in their area and take enforcement action against providers who are not meeting acceptable standards.
Matt Downie, Crisis Chief Executive, speaking after the bill passed its third reading, said: "We’ve heard real-life horror stories of people being forced to live in intolerable situations – with people experiencing violent assaults and abuse at the hands of their landlord or living in maggot-infested, mouldy rooms. This new legislation will give local authorities far more powers, enabling them to drive out rogue providers who are exploiting the system for profit. It should ensure that supported accommodation provides a safe home, much needed respite and a foundation from which people can rebuild their lives away from homelessness."
MP Bob Blackman said: "Rogue landlords are now noticing that their exploitation of the vulnerable is coming to an end. The thousands of good landlords, who provide help and support for the vulnerable, have nothing to fear from the new regulation."
