The 2026 King’s Speech sets the legislative agenda for the new parliamentary session. For NSAR members, this includes two directly relevant rail bills and broader announcements on skills, alongside wider themes that warrant monitoring.
1. Railways and Passenger Benefits Bill
The Railways Bill, carried over from the previous session, is formally confirmed under a new name, signalling a sharper passenger focus in its political framing. Key provisions include:
Great British Railways (GBR) will be established as a single publicly owned body uniting track and train, unambiguously accountable for the whole network for the first time in a generation.
Long-Term Rail Strategy: Intended to give the sector a statutory planning horizon and investment framework. This is the mechanism the industry has long argued for to end boom-and-bust procurement.
Mayoral Strategic Authorities (MSAs) will be given a statutory partnership role with GBR. Although mayors pushed for a legal obligation requiring GBR to enter into a partnership, the government rejected this. A Passenger Watchdog is being established with an independent ombudsman function, making GBR explicitly accountable to passengers, not just the government.
2. Northern Powerhouse Rail Bill
NPR is reconfirmed in the form of this Bill with up to £45 billion of investment, delivering services between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York.
- Phase 1 (2030s): Electrification and upgrades in the Leeds-Bradford, Leeds-Sheffield and Leeds-York corridors.
- Phase 2: New Liverpool-Manchester route via Warrington and Manchester Airport.
- Phase 3: Improved cross-Pennine links beyond the TransPennine Route Upgrade.
3. Skills: The Apprenticeships Plan
No standalone skills or further education legislation was announced in the speech. However, the Prime Minister’s introduction included a commitment to an apprenticeships plan intended to sit alongside the wider industrial strategy. At this stage, detail remains limited, with no clarity on how the plan will be structured, which sectors will be prioritised, or how it will align in practice with that strategy.
The speech also strongly linked apprenticeships with youth unemployment and welfare reform, reflecting an already established policy direction: using skills and employment support to move under-25s into work. In that sense, it reinforces an existing shift towards entry-level pathways and away from a broader apprenticeship and skills agenda, with apprenticeships increasingly presented as a labour market intervention as much as a training route.
4. Analysis
The 2026 Speech is largely a continuity story, as both the Railways Bill and the Northern Powerhouse Rail Bill carry over commitment and progress from the previous parliamentary session. Their presence confirms that the government’s direction of travel holds, the Railways Bill will proceed broadly as planned, with the Report Stage expected in early June and will then progress to the House of Lords shortly thereafter. With Royal Assent anticipated by the end of the year, Great British Railways (GBR) should be formally established in 2027.
On NPR, the speech confirms firm political commitment but does not resolve the questions that matter most for planning: funding profile, procurement timeline, and governance. The £45bn figure and three-corridor phasing are consistent with previous statements, but neither is yet backed by a confirmed spending settlement. Members should treat this as a firm political commitment with significant delivery uncertainty still ahead.
Finally, the energy infrastructure bills set out in the Speech also merit attention, as rising investment in energy is likely to intensify competition for labour. Overlapping skills requirements across major infrastructure projects could create workforce pressures as delivery progresses.
NSAR is available to support members in navigating these changes. For further information please contact edward.hughes@nsar.co.uk.Â