Government unveils raft of legislation in King's Speech

(Sharecast News) - King Charles outlined nearly 40 bills the government wants to pass in the next parliamentary session on Wednesday, as speculation around a possible challenge to Keir Starmer's leadership continued to mount.

The annual State Opening of Parliament saw the monarch list a total of 37 bills. These included the Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill, to take British Steel back into full public ownership, and a European Partnership Bill intended to strengthen ties with Brussels. Both bills were flagged by Starmer earlier in the week, when he gave a speech following Labour's poor local election results.

Other legislation included in the King's Speech were plans to speed up reviews by the competition authorities, new powers to penalise companies that fail to pay suppliers on time, a rail passenger watchdog and a wide-ranging police reform bill.

King Charles also confirmed that the government would introduce legislation to address the "growing threat from foreign state entities and their proxies" and tackle antisemitism.

The build-up to the speech was dominated by threats to Starmer's leadership. On Monday the prime minister vowed to fight any challenge and remained defiant despite a number of Labour politicians continuing to call for his resignation and a handful of junior ministers resigning.

He met briefly with health secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday morning. Neither commented afterwards, but it was widely reported that Streeting will resign on Thursday. Streeting is seen as a leading challenger to Starmer along with the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who has already tried and failed twice to become leader of the Labour party. He is not, however, an MP and so currently not eligible to run.

One MP called out "not now Andy" when Black Rod knocked on the doors of the House of Commons during Wednesday's ceremony.