On 13 May 2026, the UK Government announced its plans for further legislation and areas of priority in the King's Speech. In this note we address the key areas for the regulated sectors. 

Regulating for Growth 

This Bill aims at prioritising growth and innovation while continuing to balance this regulator’s core responsibilities to consumers. This has been a core focus of the government and committees in recent times. Key proposals are:

• Strengthen the Growth Duty by giving regulators a clear, statutory mandate to prioritise growth without undermining their core functions, and introducing a new statutory power for ministers to issue strategic steers, enabling them to define what growth means in different regulatory contexts, including through regulators enabling innovation.
• Create cross-economy “sandboxing powers” to allow businesses to test cutting-edge new products and technologies safely, prove what works and then scale up delivery of these changes more quickly. These powers allow existing rules to be temporarily relaxed to test new products and technologies in real-world settings under strict safeguards for consumers. This would build on, albeit with a more formal basis, the sandboxes adopted by regulators such as Ofgem.

Next steps in the reform of the water sector

As expected, the government will introduce the Clean Water Bill. This is the next stage in the water sector’s reform following the Independent Water Commission’s final report published in July 2025. 

The Clean Water Bill is said to be focused on “restoring the public’s trust” in the water sector at the same time as giving investors the stability to back long-term upgrades, and providing the clarity needed to support economic growth. The Clean Water Bill would introduce many of the measures proposed by the IWC report, including: 

• Create a new, independent and integrated water regulator – bringing together the relevant functions of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, The Environment Agency and Natural England. It will also provide for a new Water Ombudsman.
• The new regulator will adopt a modernised economic regulation regime to include a supervisory approach to improve oversight and establish a Performance Improvement Regime to ensure earlier intervention for poorly performing water companies. At the moment, however, detail remains relatively light as to how the transition to this new framework will occur.
• Other noteworthy changes include implementing statutory resilience standards and better asset mapping to build long-term resilience into the water system.
• The growth theme also appears here, through reforms to the New Appointments and Variations framework, enabling new water and wastewater companies to be appointed for new housing developments.

Energy Independence Bill

Recognising the need for “long-term investment and reform” to the nation’s energy security, the King’s Speech set out the proposed introduction of the Energy Independence Bill. The “transformative measures” seek to address three key objectives: (i) tackling the affordability crisis and protecting consumers; (ii) accelerating the UK’s drive for energy security; and (iii) delivering a fair, managed and prosperous transition to clean energy. 

The proposals in the Energy Independence Bill include measures which were foreshadowed by the Ofgem review final report (which we explored in our key takeaways) such as:

• Expanding Ofgem’s remit through new powers to regulate energy brokers and third-party intermediaries aimed at stopping unfair practices against families and consumers.
• Reforming market, planning and regulatory frameworks to accelerate the deployment of clean power, which could materially alter the development timeline for offshore wind, hydrogen and smart grid technology projects in the UK.
• Introducing new measures to accelerate the rollout of vital grid infrastructure, including reforms to land access rules and networks consenting.
• Removing charges on electricity which consumers export to the grid and introducing discounted pricing at times of excess generation to create a more flexible energy system.
• Introducing a dedicated public body (the “Warm Home Agency”) to deliver a programme of home electrification aimed at reducing fuel poverty.

Railways and Passenger Benefits Bill

One of the biggest reforms to critical infrastructure announced in the King’s Speech was the establishment of Great British Railways (GBR), a new public body which will ensure that railway infrastructure and passenger train services throughout the UK will deliver for those relying on them. 

Other measures included under the Railways and Passenger Benefits Bill are:

• Creating a Passenger Watchdog to set rail standards, investigate poor service, and act as an independent ombudsman,to ensure GBR is held accountable.
• Simplified fares and ticketing by consolidating platforms into one website and setting one transparent fare for each journey which will be available to everyone.
• Introducing two new statutory duties to empower the single strategic body to properly consider rail freight during GBR’s planning and decision-making.
• Introducing a Long-Term Rail Strategy to inform GBR about the government’s priorities for the railway, aiding long-term decision making which align with wider priorities on housing, economic growth, and the environment.
• Making GBR the single decision-maker for network access, intended to reduce fragmentation, improve timetabling, and ensure efficient use of capacity.
• Empowering devolved leaders and governments, giving Mayors in Mayoral Strategic Authorities a statutory role in decision-making and ensuring regional needs are reflected.

Highways (Financing) Bill

As part of the government’s priority to improve economic growth through a modernised transport network, the King’s Speech also proposed the introduction of the Highways (Financing) Bill to enable a new financing approach to fund large-scale road schemes.

Most notably, the Highways (Financing) Bill will introduce a new Regulated Asset Base (RAB) funding model, which has been used in water and energy sector infrastructure projects, to unlock greater levels of private capital investment in road infrastructure. This is intended to support the future delivery of vital road infrastructure projects across England, with the Lower Thames Crossing expected as the first road scheme to use this model. Strong regulatory oversight of the funding model is intended to protect its users’ interests. This will require the introduction of a new broader framework including the appointment of a regulator, a licensing framework and measures to protect against supplier failure.

Conclusion

For regulated businesses and their investors, the cumulative effect of these measures will be substantial. The coming parliamentary session will demand close attention to the detail of each Bill as it progresses through the Commons and Lords, and early engagement with the relevant regulators will be essential as they prepare for their expanded or restructured mandates.