The Prime Minister has set out more details on the government’s programme of activity and proposed new laws today after the King’s Speech.

Many of the plans will affect Kent, as our political editor Paul Francis reports…

Housing

There has been something of an attritional war on the always controversial topic of housing, with Labour pledging to build 1.5m homes over the lifetime of the Parliament.

The government hopes to avoid controversy over the threat to green belt land by allowing some development on less attractive sites - so-called 'grey belt'.

And after the previous Conservative government was pressed to make house-building targets advisory, the new Labour government has lost no time in reversing that decision to make them compulsory.

Taken together, the statement of intent is serious; but is it doable?

It had been reported that new legal measures would be introduced to force councils to quickly identify enough land to meet their predicted future housing needs.

The reports said once that land has been identified there will be a presumption in favour of development. Local residents would only be able to agree the style of new housing but not object to it getting built.

But no such details were included in today’s announcements.

Stopping the boats

A key pledge shared by all the main parties. The only problem? Nothing seemed to work to curb the number of would-be asylum seekers from crossing the Channel and the previous government’s Rwanda policy never got off the ground.

The Labour government has now set out plans for a stronger Border Security Command, with the aim of tackling the people smugglers but as yet, it is not immediately clear what this will do in practical terms.

A press release issued a few days after the election said it would be headed by the Border Security Commander, reporting directly to the Home Secretary.

Water, water everywhere…

Tougher sanctions on water companies who fail to improve standards will be covered by a new Bill.

The poor quality of water supplies and the discharge of polluted water have prompted a coalition of interested parties in parts of Kent to join forces and pressure companies to do much more.

Under a Water (Special Measures) Bill, the bosses of private water companies would be personally liable for lawbreaking, and give the water regulator new powers to ban bonuses.

Nationalisation or rail companies

The performance of rail operators has been patchy while season ticket prices have become eye-wateringly high - particularly for those using high-speed services.

The government has set out in a Bill legislation that would allow it to be able to take control and potentially take steps to take over where quality and reliability are questionable.

Education

Ending tax relief on private school fees has been controversial and in Kent, there have been concerns that the move will make the competition for places at the county’s 31 grammar schools even more intense.

However, the causal evidence is slim - not least because we don’t yet know how the cut in VAT relief will work.