This week, we have delivered laws which drive jobs and investment, take back control over our trade and borders, and protect our NHS. Despite the ongoing pandemic, we remain committed to delivering on our 2019 manifesto and deliver laws which "unite and level up the country".
Yesterday, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, said:
“This Parliament has been witness to an extraordinary chapter in the UK’s history, spanning the new freedoms we’ve gained as a sovereign nation outside the EU to the impacts of a global pandemic. The changes we’ve delivered have allowed us to take rapid action to protect our country from coronavirus and will make our country stronger, fairer, safer and greener.
“But there is much more to do - and I will remain laser-focused on delivering the people’s priorities as we work to unite, level up and increase opportunity all across the UK.”
Therefore, I am delighted to say the following Acts and Measures have received the Royal Assent and have now become Acts of Parliament:
- Trade Act 2021
- This Act bestows powers necessary to bring new trade deals into being and put the agreements it strikes as a newly independent 21st-century trading nation on to the statute books.
- Domestic Abuse Act 2021
- This Act provides protection to millions of people who experience domestic abuse and strengthens measures to tackle perpetrators.
- Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Act 2021
- This Act will allow tougher penalties for animal cruelty, meaning the maximum prison sentence for animal cruelty will be raised from six months to five years from 29 June 2021, enabling courts to take a firmer approach to cases such as dog fighting, abuse of puppies and kittens, illegally cropping a dog’s ears and gross neglect of farm animals
- Counter-Terrorism and Sentencing Act 2021
- This Act completely ends the prospect of early release for anyone convicted of a serious terror offence and forces them to spend their whole term in jail.
- Overseas Operations (Service Personnel and Veterans) Act 2021
- This Act provides stronger legal protections for service personnel and veterans facing the threat of repeated investigations and potential prosecution, delivering on the Government’s manifesto commitment to tackle vexatious claims and end the cycle of re-investigations against our Armed Forces.
- Financial Services Act 2021
- This Act will ensure the UK remains an open and dynamic financial centre, with the highest regulatory standards, and protect people across the UK as they use financial services.
- Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021
- This Act is designed to modernise airspace and clamp down on the illegal use of unmanned aircraft, granting the Transport Secretary a range of additional powers to help enhance and decarbonise the country’s aviation infrastructure.
- Fire Safety Act 2021
- This Act builds on action already taken to ensure that people feel safe in their homes, and a tragedy like the Grenfell Tower fire never happens again.
- Non-Domestic Rating (Public Lavatories) Act 2021
- This Act will introduce a 100 per cent mandatory business rates relief for public lavatories. This includes publicly and privately owned, free to use and charging for entry lavatories.
- Forensic Science Regulator Act 2021
- This Act makes provisions for the appointment of the Forensic Science Regulator; to make provision about the Regulator and about the regulation of forensic science; and for connected purposes.
- British Library Board (Power to Borrow) Act 2021
- This Act grants the British Library board new powers to borrow money. This was introduced as a private member’s bill, and received cross-party support.
- Education and Training (Welfare of Children) Act 2021
- This Act extends the safeguarding and promotion of child welfare duties that currently apply to schools and colleges to cover all providers of publicly funded post-16 education and training. This includes 16–19 academies, institutions providing specialist educational support and independent learning providers delivering apprenticeship or T-level training.
- Prisons (Substance Testing) Act 2021
- This Act amends existing legislation to allow prisons to test for a wider range of drugs, including psychoactive substances and prescription and pharmacy medicines, without the need to regularly change legislation in the future.
- Botulinum Toxin and Cosmetic Fillers (Children) Act 2021
- This Act prohibits specific cosmetic procedures being performed on young people under the age of 18 in England, except under the direction of a registered health professional (such as doctors, dentists, pharmacists, nurses). It also prohibits businesses from arranging or performing the procedures on under-18s.
- Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Act 2021
- This Act will require schools to follow new statutory guidance on uniform costs, instructing them to keep prices down.
- National Security and Investment Act 2021
- This Act strengthens the government’s ability to investigate and intervene in mergers, acquisitions and other deals that could threaten UK national security.
- Cathedrals Measure 2021
- This Measure provides a new statutory framework for the governance and regulation of 41 Church of England cathedrals and will replace the framework in the Cathedrals Measure 1999.
- Diocesan Boards of Education Measure 2021
For further information on all of the above laws, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-our-laws-will-make-uk-stronger-fairer-safer-and-greener