The Finance Bill is a government bill intended to give the tax measures announced in the spring budget 2020 lasting statutory effect.
Finance Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (172KB PDF)
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, presented the spring 2020 budget to the House of Commons on 11 March 2020. The Finance Bill is intended to give lasting statutory effect to the tax measures announced in that budget.
The bill falls within the category known formally as “bills of aids and supplies”, in which “aids” refers to taxation and “supplies” refers to government expenditure. The House of Commons has a special role in such bills, known as “financial privilege”. This means, in practice, that only the Commons can initiate such bills and Lords consideration is limited. In particular, the House of Lords may not amend such bills. While the Lords will have a debate at second reading, later stages will go through formally, without debate.
Although the budget deals with public spending as well as taxation, the procedure by which Parliament scrutinises and approves government expenditure is separate to the Finance Bill.
Finance Bill: Briefing for Lords Stages (172KB PDF)
Concerns have been raised about levels of welfare spending in the UK and increasing numbers of young people not in education, employment or training. This briefing sets out statistics, government policy and commentary on welfare and youth employment. This includes the government’s youth guarantee, its ‘Get Britain working’ policies and the interim report by Alan Milburn on young people and work.
Rural areas contribute a significant proportion of England’s economic output. The government has announced several policies intended to support growth in the rural economy, including farming. However, it has faced criticism for the delay in outlining its overall strategy for the agricultural sector. This briefing provides data on the rural economy and summarises government policy and stakeholder reaction
The Financial Services and Markets Bill [HL] is a government bill that would make reforms to several areas of financial regulation, including reforms to the Financial Ombudsman Service, abolishing the Payment Systems Regulator, introducing a ‘provisional licences’ authorisation scheme, and making reforms to the UK’s bank ring-fencing regime. Its second reading in the House of Lords is scheduled to take place on 8 June 2026.
![Financial Services and Markets Bill [HL]: HL Bill 5 of 2026–27](https://lordslibrary-parliament.studio24.dev/content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/tadas-petrokas-G7nWQwb6AP4-unsplash-568x320.jpg)