General Election wash-up: Giraffes, lions and snakes in London bill approved after no monkey business
The home for giraffes, lions and snakes in London looked safer on Friday after legislation on the capital’s zoo was rushed through Parliament.
The Zoological Society of London (Leases) Bill passed the Lords by lunchtime and was ready for Royal Assent.
The bill aims to secure London Zoo’s future in Regent’s Park by increasing the maximum term of the Zoological Society of London’s lease on the land.
The new law would allow the lease to be extended to up to 150 years, up from the current maximum of 60 years.
Conservative peer Lord Randall of Uxbridge, an environmentalist who had championed the bill, said: “In the way that the Zoological Society of London has brought back species that were threatened with extinction, I thank everybody for bringing this Bill back from the brink.”
But a string of other bills failed to make the cut for the two-day “wash-up” period as legislation was being rushed through Parliament before it is dissolved next week ahead of the general election on July 4.
The Commons was due to prorogue on Friday, with many MPs leaving Westminster for the last time, as they are not standing at the election, or may lose.
Rishi Sunak expressed “disappointed” that his flagship legislation banning young people from ever being able to smoke tobacco legally will not pass.
Bills that get whisked through in “wash-up” are those that can be quickly agreed on by both Houses of Parliament.
But the Tobacco and Vapes Bill was shelved as there was due to be a free vote on it in the Commons, with a number of Tory MPs opposed to it.
The legislation would have made it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born after January 1 2009, with the aim of creating a “smoke-free” generation.
The Victims and Prisoners Bill, which makes provision for an Infected Blood Compensation Authority to compensate tens of thousands of victims of the Infected Blood Scandal, was due to get through Parliament.
The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill, legislation to exonerate sub-postmasters and postmistresses caught up in the Horizon Post Office scandal, was also approved by Parliament late Thursday
The British Nationality (Irish Citizens) Bill passed the Lords.
The Bill will provide a new and easier route for Irish nationals who have lived in the UK for five years to register for British citizenship.
Parliament is set to break up for the election with a tradition-steeped ceremony in which MPs are summoned to the Lords in the name of King Charles III by Black Rod.
That’ is followed by a round of bowing and cap-doffing, before the title of each bill being passed is read out by an official with a cry of “le roy le veult” - “the king wills it” in Norman French.
Parliament will be officially dissolved next week, 25 working days before election day.
It will not sit again until after the election, when new members will be sworn in.
The new government, whether Labour or Conservative, is due to announce its legislative programme at another occasion of pomp and ceremony, the State Opening of Parliament, on July 17.
