The state opening of Parliament saw more than 40 bills mentioned in the King’s Speech, although only three bills relating directly to health policy were outlined in the Labour government’s accompanying brief.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer wants to use his commanding majority of 172 to push through an eventual smoking ban, together with a bill to reform the Mental Health Act.
An existing bill put forward by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to gradually ban the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products, including vapes, will be taken forward by Labour, as pledged in the party’s manifesto.
The bill aims to introduce a progressive smoking ban by annually increasing the age at which people can legally buy cigarettes by one year at a time, meaning that children born on or after Jan. 1 2009, now aged 15 or under, will never legally be able to buy tobacco.
‘Fixed Penalty Notices’ for Sale of Cigarettes
When put before the House earlier this year by Mr. Sunak, the bill passed its first reading, although it was opposed by some on the Conservative benches on libertarian grounds. It was criticised for creating a “confusing” system, where those born just one day before the threshold will be able to legally buy tobacco products, while their peers who are a day younger cannot.The bill does not seek to criminalise the act of smoking and only addresses the sale of tobacco products, with additional proposals to stop the marketing of vapes which makes them appealing to young teenagers through flavours and colours.
The government said it will “strengthen enforcement activity, allowing Trading Standards to take swifter action to enforce the law and closing loopholes.
“It will prevent underage sales of tobacco and vapes by providing enforcement authorities in England and Wales with the power to issue Fixed Penalty Notices for the underage sale of tobacco and vaping products.”
Mental Health Act ‘Woefully Out of Date’
Following up on another of Labour’s manifesto pledges, Parliament was told by the king that ministers will seek to reform the Mental Health Act of 1983, which the government claims is “woefully out of date.”The bill seeks to make detention of people under the act by the state more difficult, with the government stating this should happen only when “necessary.”
It seeks to revise the detention criteria to ensure that people can only be detained if they pose “a risk of serious harm either to themselves or to others, and where there is a reasonable prospect that treatment would have a therapeutic benefit.”
It will also revise and shorten the period that a patient may be kept in detention for treatment and provide faster, more frequent reviews and appeals of both detentions and treatment.
The government said that through the bill, it aims to give those detained “greater choice and autonomy,” and to reduce the number of autistic and mentally disabled people who lose their liberty under the act. As of May, 92 percent of those detained were considered to have a learning disability or had a diagnosis of autism.
Labour said in its manifesto that the operation of the Mental Health Act “discriminates” against black people, who are statistically more likely to be detained, and pledged to tackle this, although it did not elaborate on how.
The bill seeks to remove police stations and prisons as “places of safety”—which they are currently considered to be—which the government claims will “ensure people experiencing a mental health crisis or with severe mental health needs are supported in the most appropriate setting.”
The government briefing acknowledges that in order to introduce these reforms, it will need to train and recruit more health and judicial staff so that it is “safe” to do so, adding that the changes are likely to be introduced incrementally.
Sir Keir’s manifesto pledged to recruit an extra 8,500 mental health staff over his first term in government and to provide mental health hubs accessible for all young people either in school or in the community.
Fears Over ‘Conversion Therapy’ Ban
Also likely to prove contentious, a draft bill has been put forward to ban so-called “conversion therapy.”While not strictly considered a health policy, the proposed legislation overlaps with health in that it seeks to ban any kind of therapy or counselling which aims to dissuade a person of their sexuality or—more controversially—their chosen “gender identity.”
Women and children’s safety campaigners as well as gay rights groups have warned such legislation could criminalise any therapist who does not “affirm” the chosen identity of someone who believes they are “transgender,” meaning that potentially a medical professional could be struck off or even prosecuted for not going along with a child’s belief that they are the opposite sex.
The current bill is draft legislation and is likely to be consulted on before being introduced to the House of Commons.
In response to the speech, the LGB Alliance said on social media platform X: “Any act of violence or coercion that might constitute a conversion practice is, thankfully, already illegal.
“We are concerned that the real intention of any new legislation would be to ensure that vulnerable gender-questioning young people, most of whom are LGB, are affirmed in a trans identity by therapists under threat of criminalisation if they do not comply.
“We are pleased, however, that the King’s Speech referenced ‘draft legislation’. We hope that means there will be an opportunity for input from a wide range of interested parties, including, of course, LGB Alliance.”
