King Charles forced to modernise Crown Estate as new rules to come into force

The State Opening of Parliament took place in the House of Lords to mark the formal start of Parliament's new session.

Under the Crown Estate Bill, the new legislation states: "This Bill will modernise The Crown Estate by removing outdated restrictions on its activities, widening its investment powers and giving it the powers to borrow in order to invest at a faster pace.

"These measures - which conform to our fiscal rules - will unlock significant investment in public infrastructure for the benefit of the nation.

"That includes vital marine investment needed to accelerate and quadruple offshore wind capacity by 2030 as part of the Government’s clean power mission.

"Together these reforms will ensure the successful future of The Crown Estate business, help meet our Clean Energy Superpower mission and deliver long-term financial returns to the UK taxpayer."

The Crown Estate is a multi-billion-pound business which returns its profits to the Government to help fund public services.

It is an independent business, tasked with managing a portfolio of land and property owned by King Charles.

The Crown Estate helps maintain and improve the public infrastructure of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It generated a financial return for the Government worth over £3billion in the last decade.

One of the Crown Estate’s most important roles is being the owner and steward of the seabed of England and Wales.

In this role, it develops, prepares and leases out plots of seabed to offshore wind and other developers.

The pace at which it does this determines how quickly Keir Starmer's Government can meet its Clean Energy Superpower mission.

The Crown Estate Bill, which was announced at the State Opening of Parliament, is intended to modernise the CrownEstate so it can manage UK public assets more effectively.

It will do this in four ways, the first by granting the Crown Estate the power to borrow.

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Currently, the Crown Estate cannot use its large cash reserves to invest in case there are future financial losses. Enabling it to borrow from the Exchequer will free up these reserves to be invested in new projects, Starmer's Government has claimed.

The second way the Crown Estate will modernise is by widening its existing investment powers.

In addition, Starmer has changed the source of funding for expenses and salaries of the Commissioners from votes to the return made by the Crown Estate. This will save parliamentary time by removing the need to go through the Parliamentary Supply Estimates Process.

Finally, the maximum number of Commissioners on the Crown Estate Board will be increased from eight to 12, bringing the Crown Estate in line with modern corporate governance best practice.