Keir Starmer planning new king’s speech after May elections

Keir Starmer is planning for a new king’s speech after the crunch May elections as a reset moment for the government amid speculation over the prime minister’s future.

Senior sources in parliament said planning was under way to end the parliamentary session the week after local elections in England and parliamentary elections in Wales and Scotland in May, making it a significantly longer session than normal, and nearly two years since Labour first set out its legislative agenda.

The party is facing a potentially devastating set of results, with the possible loss of hundreds of council seats to Reform and the Greens in England as well as defeat for the first time in Wales, where Plaid Cymru and Reform are leading in the polls.

In Scotland, the Scottish National party are polling on course to maintain power despite pre-election hopes that Labour’s Anas Sarwar could become first minister. Critics of Starmer’s leadership have repeatedly named May as the moment when would-be leadership challengers could call for him to stand aside.

The last king’s speech was in July 2024, weeks after Labour won the general election, but a combination of parliamentary rebellions, international and economic turmoil and defeats in the House of Lords has meant the government needs more time to complete the legislation.

The relatively late end to the session will raise some hopes among supporters of assisted dying that it may be possible to complete the bill, which will fall if it does not pass by the end of the session. They expect many opponents will try to use procedure to talk out the private members’ bill and bar it from progressing.

Further changes to the House of Lords are among a number of measures expected in the king’s speech, including introducing a mandatory retirement age of 80.

A cross-party committee of peers was formed in early December to consult on the changes, which are likely to face stiff opposition from some in the Lords after a major row over the abolition of hereditary peerages.

Other bills expected to be in the next king’s speech include an AI and copyright bill, an immigration bill based on the changes to refugee and asylum rights set out by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and potentially further bills on change to leaseholds, welfare, Send and anti-corruption measures.

An electoral reform bill, including changes to donation rules and introducing votes at 16, is also expected.

One key dispute in government is over whether another planning or nature bill is required to change rules over protected species and measures to make it easier to build large infrastructure projects, but the changes may be made via secondary legislation.

Starmer is likely to face pressure on all fronts after the local elections – including from London MPs who may see councils fall to the Greens or significant inroads made by independent candidates, which could hand councils back to the Conservatives or push them into no overall control.

In Wales, a poll on Wednesday put Plaid Cymru ahead of Reform for the first time, a sign that anti-Reform voters are coalescing around the Welsh nationalist party as the best challenger to Reform rather than Labour. The poll put Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats all on just 10%.

Labour strategists believe their best hope for a positive story on the night remains the possibility of a narrow win for Sarwar in Scotland, but the most recent polling suggests he is trailing the SNP’s John Swinney, despite a shock win for Labour in the recent Hamilton byelection.