Labour wins UK general election: what businesses can expect next

Both objectives are central to Labour’s plans to grow the UK economy – growth it is essential it delivers if sufficient tax income is to be raised to fund improvement to public services, given its pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance, or VAT, and commitment to tight fiscal rules, under which it promises not to unbalance the UK budget nor increase national debt to fund policy delivery.

According to Labour’s election manifesto, businesses can expect the new UK government to undertake an immediate review of the National Planning Policy Framework as part of an overarching drive to increase housebuilding in England.

Labour has invested significant time and effort in setting out its ambitions for planning reform, but it faces challenges in delivering the change it believes is necessary.

In the UK, most planning decisions are made locally and shaped by local politics. Local councillors often are also local political party office holders wielding significant influence within their own parties. Labour’s intention to bring significant areas of Green Belt into use for development represents one of the more politically complicated areas for the new government to implement. Labour appears committed to spending their early political capital on this thorny area of reform – pledging to deliver 1.5 million new homes over the next parliament.

Enhancing devolved powers is a core component of Labour’s housing delivery plans. Businesses can expect the new government to provide further devolved powers to combined authorities, including directly elected mayors, to help streamline the delivery of infrastructure projects across the country. Local industrial strategies are also on the agenda, as Labour aims to realise growth ambitions in city areas.

Businesses can also expect a Labour government to be full-throated in its commitment to delivering on policies that will address climate change and deliver greater sustainability across the UK economy.

Labour has set out its aim of making the UK the green finance capital of the world, while tilting their objectives within specific sectors towards ensuring green ambitions are met. They plan, for example, to restore the phase out date of 2030 for the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles – a timeline Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government relaxed amidst a recalibration of the UK’s approach to transitioning to ‘net zero’.

On energy, Labour has put heavy focus on plans to set up GB Energy, a publicly-owned clean power company paid for through a windfall tax. They also plan to double onshore wind, triple solar power, and quadruple offshore wind generation, by 2030.

Labour has also set its sights on bringing UK railways into public ownership, in whatever form. The new government is also expected to take forward existing plans that will see a new body, Great British Railways, oversee most rail infrastructure and transport services in Britain. Investment in road infrastructure is also anticipated, with Labour having committed to fixing an additional one million potholes in England each year of the next parliament.

A shift to a more preventative approach to healthcare is also likely to be pursued by the new Labour government. Labour has promised to ban vapes from being branded and advertising, while a further ban on advertising junk food to children is also expected to be introduced, along with a package of reform and investment for the NHS.

Labour’s election manifesto provides a fuller insight into other areas of policy the new government is likely to develop, across sectors such as financial services, energy, real estate, life sciences, health, and social care, and technology and industrials, as well as in respect of climate and sustainability.

The new government’s immediate priorities will become clearer when the King’s Speech is delivered on 17 July 2024, as this will outline the new legislation the government will bring over the next parliamentary session, but the real detail will emerge when the process of consultation – be it draft legislation or full policy consultation – begins.

Co-written by Corey McCulloch of Pinsent Masons.