Queen's Speech 2009
18 November 2009
The Queen's Speech has set out the government's forthcoming legislative programme.
The speech included new measures on constitutional reform and bribery and draft legislation on reform of the House of Lords, which will be taken forward by the Ministry of Justice.
Constitutional reform
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill has been carried over from the previous session.
The purpose of the Bill is to:
- rebalance the relationship between Parliament, the government and the public
- rebuild trust in our democratic and constitutional settlement
- reinforce the principles of transparency, accountability and probity across government.
Bribery
The Bribery Bill will strengthen the law against bribery to help reinforce integrity in business and in public.
The Bill will:
- provide a modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences
- equip prosecutors and courts to deal effectively with bribery at home and abroad.
Lords reform
The government will publish draft legislation on proposals for a reformed second chamber of Parliament with a democratic mandate.
Some interim reforms of the House of Lords are being taken forward in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill which will be before the House this session.
The purpose of the draft legislation is to:
- set out how the government proposes to take forward the vote of the House of Commons in March 2007 in favour of a wholly or substantially elected second chamber.
You can read this year's Queen's Speech in full on the 10 Downing Street website.
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