Rishi Sunak left ‘disappointed’ as his legacy bills get shelved
Now that a general election has been called there’s a rush to pass bills before Parliament is dissolved. However this means not everything will pass, as campaigners, and the Prime Minister, have been left disappointed as landmark bills get shelved.
The ‘wash up’ process means the government will try to pass as much unfinished legislation today before prorogation and we enter the campaign period. Ministers were left with an unusually short ‘wash up’ time frame after Sunak called the snap summer election, with only two days to consider legislation.
Flagship policies from Rishi Sunak are among the ones being dumped, including his anti-smoking Tobacco and Vapes Bill. The prime minister said today that he was ‘disappointed’ the policy could not go through, having championed the law which looked to be one of his biggest achievements.
Tech executives will also be disappointed as the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill looks to be shelved. Martyn’s law to tighten venue security, named after one of the Manchester Arena bombing victims, also won’t be passed, with the mother of Martyn Hett responding that she felt misled by Sunak after he promised to push the bill through before summer.
The Rwanda scheme heralded on the Tory right was also dealt a mighty blow when Sunak admitted that no flights to Rwanda would leave before July, with refugee charities calling the scheme a “dead duck”.
Keir Starmer slammed Sunak’s threadbare legacy saying many proposed laws were now “up in the air or in the bin”.
Renters have been “badly let down”, campaigners said today after news that long-awaited renter reforms will not pass before the general election. It marks a huge blow to activists who have pushed for years to get better protections for renters.
The Renters’ Reform Coalition campaign group said the bill had already been undermined by landlord lobbyists, with ministers offering repeated concessions to pro-landlord backbench MPs. The coalition said “the next government must do much better.”
Bills set to pass
Victims of the infected blood scandal and Post Office scandal will be dealt some justice today, as two bills granting compensation for the former and squashing convictions for the later are set to go through.
Among the bills expected to be passed are; the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill, the Victims and Prisoners Bills (which will set up compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal), the Media Bill and the Post Office (Horizon Systems) Bill, the Pet Abduction Bill and Finance Bill.
Hannah Davenport is news reporter at Left Foot Forward
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