UK election results - a view from the Hogan Lovells Public Law & Policy team

Press releases | 05 July 2024

Now that a campaigning party has become the governing party for the first time in fourteen years, it will need to develop and implement the policy detail that underlies its pitch to voters – and tackle the realities of government across a number areas where it has not developed position.

The ease and speed with which Labour can deliver on key policies will largely depend on the extent to which it can leverage powers that Parliament has already given to the Government and to regulators. Labour will need to work out what levers they already have to bring about the changes that they have talked about in their campaigning, and in what areas they will need to pass new primary or secondary legislation. Therefore, it is not only for Ministers to make political decisions: it is for officials and parliamentarians to develop and draft the detail of those provisions and pass them into law; and it is for policymakers and regulators to grapple with how to balance their existing objectives and independence with Government priorities.

Businesses will need to engage rapidly with the new Government to shape the detail of policy implementation, to ensure that policy solutions are robust from a legal, commercial and policy perspective. Government and business working together on this will help create far greater certainty that allows business to make investment decisions and will allow Government to avoid potential policy U-turns but also – critically – ensures that business and Government have a shared understanding of the ways in which the legal and regulatory landscape should be developed in order to support Labour’s ambition for innovation and growth.

That engagement will take a range of forms over different timescales, ranging from immediate engagement on the legislative detail behind the King’s Speech (scheduled for 17 July) – much of which will be worked out in subsequent secondary legislation, codes of practice and the like - through to anticipated policy consultations on a number of complex areas. The ability of the business community – and its advisors – to offer credible, timely solutions to these policy challenges will be critical to the success of the new government and of businesses.

Authored by Charles Brasted, Julia Marlow and Robert Gardener

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