King’s Speech: Government to unveil plans centred around criminal justice

Published

2 years ago

November 7, 2023

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The government’s policies for the upcoming year will be unveiled during the King’s Speech on Tuesday, with a pledge to put criminal justice “at the heart” of its plans.

The speech – devised by the prime minister, but delivered by King Charles – will include details of a Sentencing Bill to ensure whole life orders are handed down to the “most horrific murderers”, and that rapists spend more time in jail.

There will also be a pledge for a Criminal Justice Bill to give tougher sentences to grooming gang members, and to make murdering a partner at the end of a relationship a statutory aggravating factor at sentencing.

And there will be a promise to continue work on the Victims and Prisoners Bill, which will include stopping parole for the worst offenders and preventing them from marrying in prison.

King’s Speech live: Watch our special programme on Sky News, hosted by Sophy Ridge, from 10.30am on Tuesday. You will also be able to follow the event live via the Politics Hub on the Sky News app and website.

Speaking ahead of his first King’s Speech since taking power – and possibly the last ahead of the general election – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “I want everyone across the country to have the pride and peace of mind that comes with knowing your community, where you are raising your family and taking your children to school, is safe. That is my vision of what a better Britain looks like.

“Thanks to this government, crime is down, but we must always strive to do more, taking the right long-term decisions for the country and keeping the worst offenders locked up for longer.

“In the most despicable cases, these evil criminals must never be free on our streets again. Life needs to mean life.”

But Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, accused the government of “using the most significant event in the parliamentary calendar to simply repackage ideas they’ve announced multiple times”.

She added: “There’s no use posturing on law and order when the criminal justice system is crumbling under the government’s feet after 13 years of mismanagement.”

The speech will be the central focus of Tuesday’s state opening of parliament – an almost annual event to launch the new parliamentary session that sees pomp and pageantry at every turn – setting out the government’s policy agenda for the coming year.

In the hours before, the government confirmed a raft of legislation to feature, including:

• Sentencing Bill – giving whole life orders to the worst murders, including any that involve sexual or sadistic conduct, with only a judge able to choose not to impose the sentence in exceptional circumstances, and making those who commit rape or other serious sexual offences spend their entire sentence in jail;

• Criminal Justice Bill – creating statutory aggravating factors (which can lead to longer sentences) for members of grooming gangs or those who murder their partner, making criminals attend their sentencings or face extra time in jail, and allowing the police to enter a premises without a warrant to seize stolen goods;

• Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill – to update existing powers for the UK’s intelligence agencies to tackle “evolving threats and technological advancements” used by criminals;

• Victims and Prisoners Bill – carried over from the last parliamentary session, aiming to improve support for victims of crime, along with reform of the parole system.

Other legislation expected to feature includes:

• New minimum service levels for rail, border security staff and ambulance workers – leading to fury from unions

• Plans to introduce an annual system to award new oil and gas licences as Mr Sunak continues to overhaul net zero policies – a move angering climate campaigners

• A bill to phase out leaseholds, with all new houses in England and Wales having to be sold as freehold properties;

• Plans raise the legal age for buying cigarettes in England by one year every year to phase out smoking, announced by Mr Sunak at the Conservative Party conference;

• In a statement released on Saturday night, the government also promised to put in “the right laws… to safeguard the future prosperity of the United Kingdom, seize economic opportunities and deliver a brighter future”;

But there are questions over the future of previous pledges from the government, including plans to ban conversion therapy.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer attacked the government ahead of their announcements, saying: “The Tories can’t fix the country because they’ve already failed.

“With a legacy of stagnant growth, sky-rocketing mortgages, soaring prices and crumbling schools and hospitals, Rishi Sunak admits the country needs to change; but this government cannot deliver it.”

Sir Keir added: “Labour has a plan to give Britain its future back. Whether this tired Conservative Party can match the scale of our ambitious reform is the test for them today.”

Politics

Coinbase borrows Kalshi’s playbook, sues three states over prediction markets

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

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Coinbase borrows Kalshi’s playbook, sues three states over prediction markets

Coinbase is taking three US states to court in a bid to lock in federal protection for its planned prediction markets, opening a new front in the battle over whether event contracts are finance or gambling.

The exchange has sued regulators in Connecticut, Illinois, and Michigan, asking federal judges to declare that prediction markets listed on a US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)-regulated platform fall under the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction, not 50 separate state gambling codes.

In a Friday X post, chief legal officer Paul Grewal said Coinbase filed the cases “to confirm what is clear: prediction markets fall squarely under the jurisdiction of the @CFTC, not any individual state gaming regulator (let alone 50).”

Coinbase’s federalism challenge to state gambling laws

Coinbase frames the dispute as both a legal and structural question. Court filings argue that if each state can independently decide whether federally supervised prediction markets are illegal gambling, the most restrictive regime would effectively become the national standard, “turning our system of federalism upside down.”

The company also leans hard on the way Congress defined “commodity” in the CEA, noting that lawmakers chose to carve out only a handful of specific underliers, notably onions and “motion‑picture box‑office receipts,” rather than sports or politics.

*Coinbase filing against Michigan. Source:* *Court Listener*

Grewal draws a clear line between Coinbase’s planned markets and traditional sportsbooks. Casinos and bookmakers, he argues, profit from customer losses and set odds to maximize their winnings. Prediction markets, on the other hand, are neutral matching engines that pair buyers and sellers and are indifferent to price.

Treating both as the same thing, Coinbase says, would not only misread the statute but also smother a federally regulated product that is supposed to live inside the derivatives framework, with CFTC surveillance and position limits.

Kalshi’s mixed record shows what’s at stake for prediction markets

Kalshi, which already operates as a CFTC‑designated contract market for event contracts, has been testing that theory in court for almost a year. It has sued or been sued in at least six states over whether its sports and event markets are CFTC‑regulated derivatives or unlicensed gambling.

Outcomes so far are mixed. In Nevada and Maryland, judges have held that Kalshi is subject to state gaming oversight despite its CFTC status, while in New Jersey and, more recently, Connecticut, federal courts have granted the company temporary protection from enforcement while they weigh broader injunctions. Massachusetts, meanwhile, has sued to block Kalshi’s sports products, with an injunction decision not expected until early 2026.

With Coinbase now effectively adopting Kalshi’s pre‑emption playbook, the combined docket could force federal courts to answer the core question both firms have been circling. Are US prediction markets going to be treated as regulated financial instruments under the CEA, or as gambling products that live or die under state law?