The Chancellor's growth speech promised new business 'sandbox' powers, delivered through a named Regulating for Growth Bill, ready to deploy next year. Parliament's own bill tracker shows no bill by that name has ever been introduced, five months after it was announced.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
In short. A Treasury press release on 7 September 2026 says the Chancellor "committed to delivering new powers to oversee 'sandboxing' that will be ready to deploy next year", delivered through "the Business Department's Regulating for Growth Bill" [[1]]. That Bill was announced in the King's Speech on 13 May 2026 only as legislation that "will be introduced" [[3]]. Checked directly against UK Parliament's own Bills API on 12 October 2026, five months later, no bill by that name has ever been introduced [[4]]. The same speech sets an ambition to double the number of UK unicorn firms with no current count and no target date given. Two documented mistakes: four stars.
A Treasury press release dated 7 September 2026, covering a speech by Chancellor John Healey at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry, announces a package described as taking "an axe to delays holding back growth" [[1]]. Alongside changes to judicial review and consultation requirements, the release states that "the Chancellor also committed to delivering new powers to oversee 'sandboxing' that will be ready to deploy next year", explaining that "sandboxing is the term for how companies and regulators can work together to test new models or features in safe and controlled environments" [[1]]. It names the delivery route directly: "The new powers, to be delivered through the Business Department's Regulating for Growth Bill, will let businesses test cutting-edge products and technologies safely, establish what works and scale more quickly" [[1]]. Potential uses listed include "patient access to innovative treatments, rollout of delivery robots, defence technologies or maritime autonomous vehicles" [[1]].
A named Bill that Parliament has no record of
"Ready to deploy next year" and "to be delivered through" a specifically named Bill both read as commitments with a route and a timetable attached. Four months before this speech, the King's Speech on 13 May 2026 introduced the same policy in markedly more tentative terms. The official background briefing notes for that speech describe it only as a future intention: "Legislation will be introduced to... reduce the burden of unnecessary regulation through innovation", under the heading "Regulating for Growth Bill" [[3]]. Two months after that, on 8 July 2026, the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade published its own guidance page on the policy, "Regulatory sandboxes: what businesses can expect". It too stays in the future tense: "The government will introduce new powers to temporarily ease or adjust legislation or regulatory rules that are holding innovation back" [[2]]. Neither document names a Bill number, a date of introduction or a session of Parliament.
UK Parliament's own Bills API, the same data source this site's scanner uses to track legislation moving through Parliament, was queried directly on 12 October 2026 for "Regulating for Growth". It returns zero results [[4]]. A broader search for "growth" alone turns up only the unrelated 2013 Growth and Infrastructure Act and a separate private member's bill, the Regulators (Growth Objective) Bill, neither the government's own sandboxing legislation [[4]]. Five months after the King's Speech announced it, and five weeks after this press release described its powers as "ready to deploy next year", no bill called the Regulating for Growth Bill has been introduced to either House.
An ambition with no number attached
The same speech sets a second target in equally firm language. "Sending a clear signal on his level of ambition for UK business, he also set a goal to double the number of unicorn firms, companies valued at over £1 billion, in the UK" [[1]]. Healey is quoted directly: "I'm setting an ambition to double the number of unicorn firms in this country" [[1]]. The press release does not state how many UK unicorn firms currently exist, the figure the doubling is measured against, nor any date by which the ambition should be met [[1]]. A reader cannot check progress against a target that has not been given a starting number or a deadline.
Credit where due
Not every claim in the speech is loose. The release states that "judicial review challenges typically delay nationally important infrastructure projects by a year and a half", citing Sizewell C as an example: "delayed by two judicial reviews, both of which ended up being dismissed by the courts" [[1]]. That checks out. The Court of Appeal dismissed Together Against Sizewell C's challenge to the project's development consent order on 20 December 2023, after the High Court had already refused permission on all seven grounds argued [[5]]. A second, separate challenge, over undisclosed flood defences, was refused by the High Court on 12 December 2025 [[6]]. Two judicial reviews, two dismissals, exactly as the release describes. On this specific point the record supports the government's claim.
The claims, tested
| The document's own words | What the record shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| New "sandboxing" powers "to be delivered through the Business Department's Regulating for Growth Bill" will be "ready to deploy next year" [[1]] | The King's Speech background notes (13 May 2026) describe the same Bill only as something "will be introduced" [[3]]; UK Parliament's Bills API, searched directly, shows no bill of that name has ever been introduced [[4]] | A named delivery Bill with a "next year" deployment date does not exist in Parliament's own record, five months after being announced |
| "He also set a goal to double the number of unicorn firms... in the UK" [[1]] | Neither the press release nor any linked document states the current number of UK unicorn firms or a date for the doubling [[1]] | An ambition with no baseline and no deadline cannot later be checked against a result |
Verdict
Four stars, two documented mistakes. The judicial review claim about Sizewell C holds up against the court record. But the speech's two forward-looking commitments, a named Bill delivering sandboxing powers "ready to deploy next year" and a goal to double unicorn firms, are both announced in language more definite than anything that exists to back them: one Bill that Parliament's own tracker shows was never introduced, and one target with no starting number or date attached.
The star score counts two documented mistakes: first, the press release describes new sandboxing powers as "ready to deploy next year", "to be delivered through the Business Department's Regulating for Growth Bill", but UK Parliament's own Bills API, queried directly on 12 October 2026, returns no bill by that name, five months after the King's Speech announced it only as legislation that "will be introduced"; second, the ambition to "double the number of unicorn firms" is stated with no current count and no target date, so it cannot be checked against a result. Two falls in the 1 to 3 band: four stars; the bands are on the ratings page. This piece makes no finding about the conduct of any named individual. All six sources below were fetched directly on 12 October 2026; none returned an error, except the Parliament Bills API query itself, which is cited for what it returns, not what it withholds.
Sources
- Chancellor takes axe to delays holding back growth, HM Treasury, published 7 September 2026
- Regulatory sandboxes: what businesses can expect, Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, published 8 July 2026
- The King's Speech 2026 - background briefing notes (PDF, page 30), Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street, 13 May 2026
- Bills API: search "Regulating for Growth", UK Parliament, queried 12 October 2026
- Together Against Sizewell C Limited, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Court of Appeal (Civil Division), judgment 20 December 2023
- Judicial Review Challenge to Refusal To Revoke Sizewell C DCO Dismissed, FTB Chambers, December 2025