A TOTAL of 38 bills were announced as part of the Queen's Speech in the House of Commons, which was delivered on Tuesday by Prince Charles.
Here are some of the key bits of legislation ministers intend to pass in the coming year.
Brexit Freedoms Bill
This will give ministers the power to overhaul EU laws they copied over after the UK left the bloc. Aimed at "seizing the opportunities of the UK's departure", it will make it easier to amend EU laws without it taking "decades of parliamentary time".
Public Order Bill
This does not apply to Scotland but is still quite significant. It will introduce new police powers over disruptive protests which were blocked by the House of Lords earlier this year. It creates a new criminal offence against people "locking on" to buildings, objects or other people and causing serious disruption to people's lives, businesses, and the emergency services.
It will also make it a crime to disrupt key infrastructure like airports, railways and printing presses, and the bill will make it illegal to obstruct major transport works.
Energy Security Bill
This focuses on paving the way for new, low-carbon technologies and growing the consumer market for electric heat pumps.
It will also appoint Ofgem as the new regulator for heat networks and extend the energy price cap.
Transport Bill
This will establish a new state-run agency, “Great British Railways”, to regulate railway services across the UK.
Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill
This will bolster the investigatory powers of Companies House and aim to increase corporate transparency. It will seek to crack down on illicit finance, including by creating new powers to seize crypto assets more quickly and increasing powers to check information on the Company Register.
Online Safety Bill
This is a giant piece of legislation to deliver a government pledge to better regulate content appearing on the internet. Carried over from the previous parliamentary session, the legislation includes measures aimed at forcing online giants to take responsibility for protecting users and removing illegal content.
Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill
The law will ban live exports, tackle puppy smuggling and prohibit keeping primates as pets without a licence.
Media Bill
This legislates for Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries’s plans to privatise Channel 4.
Conversion Therapy Bill
This does not specifically apply to Scotland, but this will ban the controversial practice for attempting to change sexual orientation, but not gender identity. The Scottish Government is already working towards a ban on conversion therapy.
Draft Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill
This cracks down on “subscription traps” and fake reviews and strengthens protections for consumers using Christmas savings clubs.
It also gives the Competition and Markets Authority the ability to decide for itself when consumer law has been broken, and to issue penalties for those breaches.
