UK Government introduces the Arbitration Bill into Parliament

In November 2023, the UK government introduced a new Arbitration Bill (the “Bill”) into parliament, which will enact certain amendments to the Arbitration Act 1996 (the “Act”). The Bill follows a comprehensive review of the Act by the Law Commission (the “Review”) which rightly concluded that “root and branch reform is not needed or wanted”, so that the changes mark improvements and tweaks to the Act, rather than any major surgery, to ensure that the arbitration regime within England, Wales, and Northern Ireland remains up to date and that London, in particular, can remain a venue (‘seat’) of choice for international contracts. The Review…