View from Whitehall - May 2022

Earlier this month, the Queen’s Speech (delivered by the King-in-waiting) set out the Government’s direction for the next twelve months. In amongst the 38 Bills, were some meaty aspirations, including a Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill along with the establishment of the UK Infrastructure Bank. Under this administration, it remains valid to ask what will come of such grand ideas. Evidently, concluding Brexit (if indeed that point will come in the short-term) and recovering post-Covid, have tested the Government’s bandwidth, but many have questioned whether the Prime Minister will back up words with concrete action.

Looking at the potential impact on the FLA, we welcome the Financial Services and Markets Bill which repatriates European rule-making processes. We see this as a potential route to Consumer Credit Act reform given that it refocuses the UK’s approach to regulation. We continue to impress upon HM Treasury the need to kickstart this process in a tangible way, ideally with a formal Government commitment this side of the General Election.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill is great news in that it broadens Companies House powers to oversee more reliable data and introduce more effective investigation and enforcement powers. These changes cannot come soon enough for lenders.

The Data Reform Bill is heralded as an opportunity to reshape the UK’s data protection policy. Whilst the EU’s data adequacy regime limits that, it is helpful for FLA members that this legislation will widen the use of digital verification which should combat fraud.

The Government and Parliament will have to work hard to process the legislative programme, the highest number of Bills in nearly two decades, over the next year.  It remains to be seen if the resources are available to achieve this especially as next year’s Queen’s Speech is unlikely to have space for bills to be carried over. Instead, the focus will be on legislation – that will need to be introduced swiftly – to curry favour with the electorate ahead of going to the polls. 

The Conservatives have shown they are not averse to trying to woo the public. The Chancellor’s announcement yesterday to grant one-off payments to households (thanks in part to a levy on gas and oil companies) demonstrated that it is sometimes necessary to respond to public pressure even if it conflicts with traditional Conservative Party values of low taxation and curtailing public spending.

Published 27 May 2022