On July 20, the Financial Services and Markets Bill (the “Bill”) was introduced in the UK’s House of Commons (“HoC”). This first formal stage in the legislative process (called the “first reading”) does not allow for debate of the Bill.
The Chancellor announced the introduction of the Bill on July 19 in a speech at Mansion House. The Government states that the Bill will, among other things:
There is a long process for the Bill to travel before it passes into law. There will be several further “readings” where the content of the Bill is debated in the HoC, together with committee and report stages. The Bill will then be voted on (at the third reading) where the HoC decides if the Bill should be approved. A similar process (including several debates, committee and report stages) will then take place in the House of Lords. There will likely be multiple amendments proposed and considered during the course of the Bill’s progress through the UK Parliament.
The “second reading” in the HoC is currently scheduled to take place on September 7, 2022.