AA response to the King’s Speech

Following the King’s Speech on 17 July 2024, the Advertising Association has issued the below comment.

Lisa Hayley-Jones, Director of Policy & Government Affairs, Advertising Association said:

“Today’s King’s Speech gives our members a clear indication of what to expect from this new Labour government. The wide-ranging legislative package of 40 Bills is designed to drive growth across the regions and nations, and support sustainable growth by encouraging investment in industry, skills and new technologies.

The Advertising Association welcomes the establishment of Skills England and reform of the apprenticeship levy which we have long called for. We also welcome the new Council of the Nations and increased powers for metro mayors to collaborate together to drive growth. The advertising industry employs over 360,000 people across the UK and we look forward to working together with the Government and mayors on its mandate.

We strongly welcome that the Government has listened to the concerns of our sector and committed to introduce secondary legislation on HFSS advertising. This will help to bring the much-needed certainty that our sector has been asking for ahead of the restrictions coming into force in October 2025.

The Advertising Association notes the Government has pledged to introduce powers to regulate AI and look forwards to working with Ministers on this important issue. We will continue our dialogue with Government on data reforms for our industry, to help ensure the UK remains a world-leading data-driven economy.

We look forward to seeing more details of the government’s legislative agenda in the coming days.”