The King’s Speech: what it means for your rural business

The King’s Speech sets out the UK Government’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary session. In practice, it’s a statement of intent – it lists the laws that ministers plan to bring forward over the next one to two years.

It’s important for rural businesses and landowners to take note, as the announcement contains several bills and measures that will directly affect those in the countryside.

The Clean Water Bill will be the biggest shakeup to water regulation since privatisation. It will create a single integrated regulator for water, which CLA members are likely to interact with, by bringing together the functions of Ofwat, the Environment Agency and Natural England.

The bill will tighten the oversight of water companies and give consumers a stronger voice via a Water Ombudsman, but at the same time make it easier for water companies to deliver more resilient, integrated infrastructure by merging their regulated planning frameworks. This should support more preventative and nature-based solutions, which represent opportunities for members to receive income for delivering services on behalf of water companies.

The bill will also provide the enabling legislation for new, consolidated agricultural water pollution regulations.

The Regulating for Growth Bill is particularly important for the countryside. It introduces a strengthened statutory growth duty on regulators such as Natural England and the Environment Agency.

In practice, this requires regulators to actively support economic growth alongside their environmental responsibilities, supported by new reporting requirements and clearer powers for ministers to set strategic direction. How this is applied in planning and environmental decision-making will be critical.

On trade, the European Partnership Bill will implement new UK–EU agreements, including on sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) rules by mid-2027. The new SPS agreement will have the potential to reduce export health certification costs, cut checks at the border, and simplify the movement of agri-food goods. However, alignment of this kind also raises real questions about democratic accountability and parliamentary scrutiny, particularly where UK rules may increasingly follow EU standards over time. There are still questions about how far it will reduce trade friction in practice. The CLA has already sought members’ views to inform our response to Defra’s consultation on the SPS agreement.

Energy is another key focus. The Energy Independence Bill aims to accelerate the deployment of homegrown clean energy and the grid infrastructure needed to support it, strengthening the UK’s long-term energy security and reducing reliance on volatile fossil fuel markets.

The detail of how this will be delivered in practice will be critical but must include increased access to the electricity distribution network for smaller scale rural generators.

Locally, the Overnight Visitor Levy Bill would allow mayors to introduce a tourism tax. The CLA has consistently argued that this would place another financial burden on rural businesses.

An overnight stay in the UK already attracts around £25 in taxes – higher than in many international destinations. Extra charges could put people off visiting, discourage investment and add further pressure to tourism businesses that are already working within tight margins.

It’s frustrating to see the UK Government press ahead with this, but we will continue to mount opposition, working with organisations such as UKHospitality and The Professional Association of Self-Caterers to back rural stays.

This is an ambitious programme, but it arrives at a politically uncertain time. With pressure mounting on the Prime Minister, there is increasing discussion about a possible leadership change and what that could mean for the government’s priorities. A new Prime Minister may decide to revisit, delay or abandon parts of the programme.

For the CLA, the priority is clear. These proposals will have a real impact on rural businesses in the years ahead. We will continue working closely with the government to make sure the policies support investment, growth and a strong rural economy.