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This Insight summarises the Planning aspirations of the Conservative, Labour and the Liberal Democrat manifestos for the UK’s 2024 election. Their shared focus is on housing, energy infrastructure and battling climate change. The Conservatives remain committed to the Green Belt and maximising brownfield and densification. Labour proposes new towns and increased use of compulsory purchase, with release of ‘grey’ belt. The Lib Dems focus on more localised strategies. Labour and the Conservatives both propose increases in offshore wind, nuclear and carbon capture, use and storage. Both resist fracking. Labour proposes new Government energy investment institutions. The Conservatives remain wary of onshore wind. The Lib Dems support nature-based solutions to the energy crisis given the imperative to tackle global warming.

Following last week's pre-election guide on qualifying periods and statutory time-limits, we focus this week on Labour’s plan to simplify the law on employment status.

In P v D [2024] HKCFI 1123 (judgment date: 30 April 2024), the Hong Kong Court of First Instance dismissed an application, pursuant to section 26 of the Arbitration Ordinance, by the challenging party (“P”) to remove two arbitrators (“Impugned Arbitrators”) in an HKIAC administered arbitration governed by the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, pursuant to section 26 of the Arbitration Ordinance (Cap. 609).

In May 2024, the Hong Kong Government introduced the Construction Industry Security of Payment Bill (Bill) to the Legislative Council for first reading. If the Bill is passed into law, the Bill will introduce a statutory security of payment regime for both public sector and private sector construction contracts in Hong Kong. This is the second article in a series of two articles. In the earlier article, we compared the clauses in the Bill against the public works contracts pilot programme security of payment provisions (Pilot Provisions) promulgated by the Development Bureau (DevB) in its Technical Circular (Works) No.6/2021 (Circular) for the contractual regime, and considered the key development, changes and differences. In this article, we will take a deeper look at the changes made in the Bill concerning the treatment of variation claims and time-related disputes in the payment process and the adjudication process.