Figures show the annual number of migrants crossing the English Channel fell during 2023, doing so for the first time since records began. The provisional annual total for 2023 is 29,437, a 36% decrease from the 2022 total of 45,774.[1]
VAT on
period pants is abolished, potentially making the products cheaper to buy.[3]
A 5% increase in the price cap on domestic energy comes into force for England, Scotland and Wales.[4]
Kimberlee Singler, a 35-year-old mother accused of the murder of two of her children in
Colorado, United States, appears before
Westminster Magistrates Court for extradition proceedings following her arrest in London on 30 December 2023.[5]
The
Met Office issues a severe weather warning as
Storm Henk hits parts of the UK, bringing winds of up to 80 mph (128 km/h), along with the risk of flooding.[7]
A man in his 50s dies on the
A433 near
Kemble, Gloucestershire after a tree falls on his car during high winds.[8][9]
At the
London Eye, strong winds blow open a pod hatch while a family of 11 is 400 ft in the air.[10]
Footage emerges of a mother and her three-year-old daughter being rescued from a submerged car in Birmingham.[11]
An 87-year-old woman dies on the
B4526 near
Crays Pond, Oxfordshire after the car she is driving hits a fallen tree.[12]
Research published by the
RAC indicates that the target set by the UK government for installing rapid or ultra-rapid chargers near motorways was missed during 2023.[13]
Provisional data released by the Met Office indicates 2023 was the second warmest year on record in the UK behind 2022, with Wales and Northern Ireland experiencing their warmest year on record during 2023.[14]
Sainsbury's announces that they will offer pay rises from March as supermarkets continue their battle to retain workers. The increase means that all their workers will be paid the voluntary
Real Living Wage, which is higher than the compulsory
National Living Wage.[20]
The Metropolitan Police says it is not investigating allegations against
Prince Andrew after unsealed court papers in the United States contained groping allegations against him.[22]
Critics brand comments by
Sir Howard Davies, chair of
NatWest, as "astounding" and "out of touch with reality" after he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was "not that difficult" for someone to buy a house.[23]
Chris Skidmore, MP for
Kingswood, announces his intention to stand down from Parliament "as soon as possible" in protest at the UK government's decision to issue more oil and gas licences. His decision will trigger another
by-election.[24]
The rate of
National Insurance is reduced from 12% to 10%, reducing NI contributions for an estimated 27 million employees earning between £12,571 and £50,270.[27]
Sunak describes the
Post Office scandal as "an appalling miscarriage of justice" and says the government is looking at ways to clear the names of those convicted because of faulty IT software.[29]
Chinese authorities claim to have detained an individual who they say has been working for the British Secret Intelligence Service
MI6.[31]
Ofgem grants permission for energy companies to resume the forced installation of prepayment meters a year after the practice was suspended and after drawing up new rules that prohibits them being installed under certain conditions, such as households where the occupant is over 75, where there are children under two, and for those with certain health conditions.[32]
At an event held in
Parliament Square, the actor
Idris Elba calls on the UK government to introduce an immediate ban on the sale of
zombie knives and
machetes to reduce the number of young people losing their lives because of the weapons.[33]
More than a million people have signed a petition calling for former Post Office chief executive
Paula Vennells to be stripped of her
CBE in the wake of the Horizon IT scandal.[35]
Secretary of State for Justice
Alex Chalk tells Parliament the UK government is giving "serious consideration" to introducing legislation to quash the convictions of the 700 or so sub post masters who were prosecuted as a result of the Horizon IT scandal.[38]
Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells announces that she will hand back her CBE after more than a million people signed a petition calling for her to do so.[39]
Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak announces that emergency legislation will be brought through Parliament to "swiftly exonerate and compensate victims" of the Post Office scandal in England and Wales.[41]
First Minister of Scotland
Humza Yousaf confirms those in Scotland convicted because of the scandal will also be cleared, and that he will work with the UK government to bring this about.[42]
Baroness Heather Hallett, chair of the
UK COVID-19 Inquiry, confirms the inquiry will postpone the start of hearing evidence about the development of a vaccine as more time is needed to prepare for a separate investigation into the impact of COVID-19 on the NHS. Consequently, the vaccine evidence, which was due to begin being heard in Summer 2024 may not begin until after the
next general election.[43]
HS2 Ltd releases a revised forecast for building the London to Birmingham leg of the
High Speed 2 rail link, which is now estimated to total £65bn.[44]
The BBC's Panorama programme finds that
fast-fashion firm
Boohoo have labelled 'Made in UK' on potentially thousands of clothes that were actually made in
South Asia.[46]
BBC News research indicates that most
NHS targets have been missed for the past seven years.[47]
Data from the
Office for National Statistics indicates the UK economy grew by 0.3% in November 2023, having retracted by the same amount the previous month, meaning the UK avoided going into recession, although the risk of doing so remains.[53]
The BBC reports that Post Office managers threatened and lied to the broadcaster in an attempt to conceal key evidence ahead of the broadcast of the 2015 Panorama documentary that brought the Horizon IT scandal to public attention.[56]
Financial experts estimate the Post Office may have underpaid £100m in tax because of how it declared compensation payments to victims of the Horizon IT scandal.[57]
Five cross-
Channel migrants, the first seen in 2024, arrive in a
Border Force boat in Kent after being picked up while crossing from France.[60]
14 January
Five people die when a small boat overturns in French waters as around 70 people try to board it in an attempt to migrate across the
English Channel to the UK.[61]
Thousands of people attend a pro-Israel rally in
London to mark 100 days since the
7 October attack and call for the release of all hostages from
Gaza.[62]
Ronnie O'Sullivan wins the
2024 Masters after beating
Ali Carter, making him both the youngest and oldest winner in the tournament's history. He won his first title in the
1995 Masters when he was 19 years old. 29 years later, he wins his
eighth at the age of 48.[64][65]
15 January
The portrait of
King Charles III for use on public buildings, such as courts and government offices is unveiled.[66]
Another week of strike action is announced by the
ASLEF train drivers union, to run from Tuesday 30 January until Monday 5 February.[67]
A review into investigations conducted by
Greater Manchester Police between 2004 and 2019 finds that girls were "left at the mercy" of paedophile grooming gangs for several years because of failings by senior police and council bosses.[70]
Alison Phillips confirms she will stand down as editor of the Daily Mirror at the end of January, having been in the role since 2018.[71]
16 January
Schools are closed and commuters face disruption following snowfall across parts of the UK.[72]
British brothers Stewart and Louis Ahearne are sentenced to three and a half years in prison by a court in Switzerland for their part in a 2019 robbery of
Ming dynasty art from a museum in Geneva.[75]
The
Met Office issues a warning for what is expected to be the coldest January night since 2010.[76] Temperatures fall to −14 °C in parts of Scotland, while the following night (17 January) is the coldest of the winter for many places.[77]
Giving evidence to the inquiry into the Post Office scandal, Paul Patterson, the chief executive of
Fujitsu Europe, says the company has a "moral obligation" to contribute to compensation for sub-postmasters wrongly prosecuted as a result of its faulty IT software, and apologises for the impact the scandal had on those affected by it.[78]
17 January
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows a slight increase in inflation for December 2023, with a rise to 4% compared to 3.9% in November.[79]
Broadcaster and football executive
Eniola Aluko threatens to take legal action after receiving online abuse from footballer
Joey Barton.[80]
Buckingham Palace confirms that King
Charles III is to undergo surgery for an enlarged prostate, while
Catherine, Princess of Wales is in hospital for abdominal surgery, keeping them away from public engagements for a while.[81]
The
UK Statistics Authority rebukes the prime minister for misleading the public over the backlog of asylum applications, which he claimed in a social media post had been cleared, while several thousand still remained. The UKSA says the claim could have affected public trust in the government.[84]
The legal deadline to form a
Northern Ireland Executive. On the same day, over 150,000 public sector workers stage a general strike across Northern Ireland.[86][87]
19 January
The Met Office issues a warning for high winds and heavy rain ahead of the arrival of
Storm Isha.[88]
Tata Steel confirms it is cutting 2,800 jobs. It will close its blast furnaces at
Port Talbot and replace them with an
electric arc furnace, which produces less CO2 but requires fewer workers.[89]
The bodies of four people are found at a house in
Costessey, near Norwich. All four people are believed to have been known to each other.[90]
A speech to the
Fabian Society conference by Shadow Foreign Secretary
David Lammy is interrupted by pro-Palestinian protestors.[96]
21 January
Weather alerts, including two amber warnings, are issued for the entire UK as Storm Isha brings winds of up to 99 mph.[97][98]
A technical fault prevents some
Tesco grocery orders from being fulfilled.[99]
A spokesman for
Sarah, Duchess of York confirms she has been diagnosed with
malignant melanoma following the removal of a cancerous
mole during treatment for breast cancer, and is undergoing further investigation. She is the third member of the royal family to undergo a medical procedure in under a week.[100]
22 January
Two deaths are reported in the aftermath of Storm Isha, while tens of thousands of homes remain without power, and transport services face ongoing disruption. A new storm –
Storm Jocelyn – is expected to hit parts of the UK tomorrow.[101]
After the
Royal Mail proposes that its deliveries should be made from Monday to Friday only,
Downing Street states that the government would not support such a move, with the Prime Minister expressing a view that Saturday deliveries provide "flexibility and convenience".[102]
Consultancy firm
Cornwall Insight forecasts that energy bills will fall by 16% in April, saving the average household around £300 a year.[103]
The UK and US launch fresh air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.[104]
The UK's
Charity Commission launches an investigation into antisemitic speeches given by members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to students at a UK-based Islamic charity, which included chants of "death to Israel".[105]
23 January
Data from the Office for National Statistics indicates government borrowing in December was at £7.8bn, a fall from £16.2bn in December 2022, and the lowest since 2019.[106]
Sunak tells Parliament the UK will not hesitate to launch further air strikes against Houthi rebels if they continue to attack shipping targets in the Red Sea, but does not seek confrontation with the group.[107]
Most of the UK is placed under a Met Office yellow weather warning for high winds as
Storm Jocelyn arrives.[108]
Sir Patrick Sanders, the
Chief of the General Staff, warns that the UK should train a "citizen army" ready to fight a war on land in the future, highlighting Russia as a potential threat and the steps being taken by other European countries to put their populations on a "war footing".[110]
Ofcom publish plans to reform
Royal Mail with the options of reducing postal deliveries from six to five or three days a week, or delaying the time the service takes to fulfil its deliveries.[111]
The UK is to lend several pieces of the Ghana crown jewels back to
Ghana 150 years after looting them from the court of the Asante king.[113]
25 January
The UK government announces fresh plans to ban the sale of
zombie knives, with legislation taking effect from the autumn.[114]
Lloyds Banking Group announces plans to cut around 1,600 positions from its branch staff in a reorganisation that it says is because more customers are banking online.[115]
26 January
Buckingham Palace confirms that King Charles III has been admitted to hospital for treatment for an enlarged prostate.[116]
The UK government suspends funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees,
UNRWA, after the organisation sacked several officials reported to have been involved in the 7 October attacks on Israel.[119]
John Lewis & Partners announce further cuts to the number of its staff over the coming five years, with The Guardian reporting up to 11,000 jobs could go.[121]
The
British Association of Dermatologists warns against the use of skincare products by children as young as eight, saying that to do so could leave them with irreversible skin damage.[122]
28 January
The hottest
UK temperature in January is provisionally recorded by the Met Office, with a peak of 19.6 °C (67.3 °F) at
Kinlochewe,
Scottish Highlands, more than a degree higher than the previous record in
2003.[123]
The UK government announces plans to ban
disposable vapes in an attempt to tackle the growing number of children taking up vaping.[124]
29 January
The King and the Princess of Wales are both discharged from hospital.[125]
Laurence Fox loses a High Court
libel case with social media users he called paedophiles.[126]
A University College London study of five cases of Alzheimer's disease suggests they could have been caused by a treatment in which the patients were injected with growth hormones from dead people, a treatment that was withdrawn in the mid-1980s.[128]
30 January
Lucy Letby has her initial request for permission to appeal against seven murder convictions and six attempted murder convictions refused by the Court of Appeal.[129]
HSBC is fined £57.4m by the
Bank of England for "serious failings" over its measures to protect customer deposits.[130]
The ONS publishes its latest forecast of
UK population, suggesting that the number of people in the UK could rise from 67 to 73.7 million by 2036, driven by strong immigration.[131][132]
31 January
Post-
Brexit controls on food, plant and animal imports to Britain from the
EU come into force.[133]
Nine people, including three police officers, are taken to hospital following an attack using what is described as a "
corrosive substance" on a car in Clapham, south west London.[135] The suspect is named as
Abdul Shakoor Ezedi, a 35-year-old man from the "
Newcastle area".[136]
February
1 February
A ban on owning an
American XL Bully dog comes into force in
England and Wales. It is now a criminal offence to own one of the dogs unless the owner has successfully applied for the dog to be exempt.[137]
Senior Labour MP
Darren Jones confirms that the party has ditched its commitment to spend £28bn a year on green investment schemes if it wins the
next general election.[143]
The killers of 16-year-old transgender girl
Brianna Ghey are named as Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe, both aged 15 at the time of the murder in February 2023. They are sentenced at
Manchester Crown Court to minimum terms of 22 and 20 years, respectively.[144]
Water UK, the umbrella trade organisation for the UK's water companies, says that the average annual water bill is expected to increase by 6% in England and Wales from April, an average rise of £27 to £473.[145]
A third round of joint UK–US air strikes are launched against Houthi rebels, targeting three sites in Yemen. Defence Secretary
Grant Shapps says the latest strikes are "not an escalation" of the conflict.[148]
Esther Martin, a 68-year-old woman, is killed by dogs while visiting her grandson for the weekend in
Jaywick, near
Clacton-on-Sea, Essex.[149][150]
4 February – CCTV footage of
alkali attack suspect Abdul Shakoor Ezedi in a
Tesco store is shown by the police, as a reward of £20,000 is offered for information leading to his capture.[151]
The
Met Office issues a yellow weather warning for snow for large parts of north Wales, and northern and central England, for 8 February as unseasonably mild temperatures are replaced by colder weather.[153]
The UK government launches a six-week consultation on plans for
Martyn's Law, which would make provisions to better protect the public against potential acts of terrorism.[155]
6 February – Around eight million people on means tested benefits begin to receive the final scheduled cost-of-living payment from the UK government, as Sunak tells the BBC the financial pressures on households are beginning to ease.[156]
7 February
The government announces that dentists will be offered a £20,000 bonus to work in the areas of England with the poorest access to NHS care.[157]
Data published by
Halifax Bank indicates that UK house prices increased by 2.5% in January 2024 when compared to the same month in 2023.[158]
The Met Office issues two amber snow warnings for the following day covering north Wales, north-west Shropshire, the Peak District and south Pennines.[159]
Weather warnings remain in place as snow and rain continue to fall across the UK.[162]
Police tell reporters they believe that Abdul Shakoor Ezedi may have drowned in the
River Thames, based on CCTV of the suspect at
Chelsea Bridge.[163]
The
Duke of Sussex settles his remaining phone hacking claims against
Mirror Group Newspapers, with the newspaper agreeing to pay his legal costs along with around £300,000 in compensation.[164]
10 February
Police begin a search of the
River Thames for the body of Abdul Shakoor Ezedi, the Clapham chemical attack suspect.[165]
In the first statement to be released since his cancer diagnosis,
Charles III thanks the public for their messages of support.[168]
11 February – British journalist
Clare Rewcastle Brown accuses Malaysia of seeking "political revenge" for her reporting after a court jailed her
in absentia for criminal defamation of a Malaysian royal.[169]
12 February
Azhar Ali, the Labour Party's
Rochdale by-election candidate, is suspended from the party over comments about Israel and Jewish people. He will however remain on the ballot as the Labour candidate, as it is too late to replace him under electoral law.[170]
Three apologises after three days of outages that left around 12,000 people without mobile signals and data.[171]
Child killer
Colin Pitchfork will be reconsidered for
parole after successfully challenging a
Parole Board decision to refuse him parole on the grounds he poses too much of a risk if released from prison.[172]
Police begin an investigation into reports of
antisemitism during a performance by comedian Paul Currie at the
Soho Theatre in London, which left
Jewish audience members feeling "unsafe" and "threatened".[174]
Labour leader Keir Starmer insists he took "decisive action" over comments made by
Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali.[175]
Cosmetics retailer
The Body Shop enters administration, putting more than 2,200 jobs at risk.[176]
Data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that the average annual increase in employee earnings (excluding bonuses) was 6.2%, using data from the final three months of 2023.[177]
14 February
Office for National Statistics data shows that UK inflation remained at 4% in January 2024, despite a slight fall in food prices and a rise in energy prices.[178]
Train drivers' union ASLEF announces that drivers at five train operators – Chiltern, c2c, East Midlands, Northern and TransPennine – have voted for a further six months of industrial action.[179]
Food delivery drivers with companies including
Uber Eats,
Just Eat and
Deliveroo stage a five-hour strike between 5pm and 10pm over pay and conditions.[180]
15 February
The UK is confirmed to be in a
recession, after the economy shrank by 0.3% between October and December, having already contracted between July and September 2023.[181]
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows a 3.4% increase in retail sales during January 2024, largely fuelled by food shopping and the
January sales.[184]
Amina Noor, who took a three-year-old British girl to Kenya for
female genital mutilation in 2005, is sentenced to seven years in prison following a trial at the Old Bailey. She becomes the first person to be convicted in the UK for assisting a non-UK person to carry out the practice.[185]
18 February – Senior police officers condemn "sexist and homophobic" comments made online about
Karen Findlay, the newly-appointed deputy chief constable of
British Transport Police, following news of her promotion.[188]
Following a trial at
Canterbury Crown Court, Senegalese national Ibrahima Bah is found guilty of the manslaughter of four migrants when the boat he was steering ran into trouble in the English Channel. Bah had agreed to steer the boat in exchange for a free crossing in December 2022.[190]
Thomas Salton of Basildon, Essex becomes the first person in the UK to be convicted of possession and intent to supply
nitrous oxide, and is sentenced to four months in prison.[191]
20 February
Police announce that a body recovered from the River Thames is believed to be that of Abdul Shakoor Ezedi because of the distinctive clothing the deceased person was wearing.[192]
The Body Shop announces the closure of half of its 198 UK stores, with closures set to begin immediately; the company's head office will also be reduced in size.[194]
21 February
An
Opposition day House of Commons debate calling for a ceasefire in Gaza descends into chaos after Speaker
Sir Lindsay Hoyle breaks with Parliamentary convention to allow a vote on a Labour amendment calling for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" over the scheduled SNP motion calling for an "immediate ceasefire". The decision leads to protests from both Conservative and SNP MPs, who walk out of the House, leaving Labour's motion to be nodded through when the other two parties do not take part in the vote. Amid calls for his resignation, Hoyle says that he allowed the House to vote on the Labour motion so MPs could express their view on "the widest range of propositions" and was trying to protect MPs' safety.[195]
A test-firing of the
Trident nuclear missile system from a
Royal Navysubmarine is reported to have failed, for the second time in a row.[196]
The UK freezes the assets of six Russian prison bosses after the death of activist
Alexei Navalny in a penal colony the previous week.[197]
The UK quits the
Energy Charter Treaty, which had allowed fossil fuel companies to sue governments over profits lost in the drive towards
net zero.[198]
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows a surplus in government finances of £16.7bn in January 2024, more than double the figure for January 2023.[199]
22 February
More than 60 MPs have signed a House of Commons motion calling for the resignation of Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.[200]
A further 50 sanctions against Russia are announced, aimed at restricting those supplying its military with munitions such as rocket launchers, missiles and explosives.[201]
Employees of a company contracted by the Home Office are suspended after a baby's birth certificate was returned to the parents with the place of birth,
Israel, crossed out.[202]
The UK government announces that legislation will be introduced to clear hundreds of sub-postmasters in England and Wales who were wrongly convicted as a result of the Horizon IT scandal.[203]
23 February
Thousands of people in the
Keyham area of
Plymouth,
Devon are evacuated as an unexploded World War II bomb is moved by military convoy for disposal at sea. The bomb was discovered in a garden three days prior. This is also the first time that the
UK Emergency Alert System is used in a live situation.[204]
Ofgem confirms that the average annual energy bill will fall by £238 from April to £1,690, its lowest rate for two years.[205]
Shamima Begum loses her legal bid to overturn the decision to revoke her UK citizenship.[206]
Ibrahima Bah is sentenced to nine years and six months in prison.[207]
A body found in the River Thames is formally identified as that of Abdul Shakoor Ezedi.[209]
24 February
Police are called to
Willy's Chocolate Experience in
Glasgow after the event – which was advertised as an immersive and interactive family experience using AI generated images – turns out to be a largely empty warehouse with a few props and decorations;[210] attendees label the event a "scam" and "farce".[211] In the following week, photos and videos from the shambolic event go
viral online, garnering international media attention.[212][213]
Another round of joint UK–US air strikes are carried out against Houthi rebels.[215]
25 February – The Post Office has hired investigators, including some former police officers, to look at the work of its own investigation into the Horizon IT scandal.[216]
While giving evidence under oath, former Post Office chairman
Henry Staunton tells a parliamentary hearing on the Horizon IT scandal that current Post Office chair
Nick Read is under internal investigation.[219]
28 February
The Duke of Sussex loses a High Court challenge against the UK government's decision to downgrade his security status when he stopped being a working royal.[220]
A study in the British Medical Journal links
ultra-processed foods to 32 negative health impacts, including a higher risk of heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, adverse mental health and early death.[221]
Following a trial at the
High Court in Glasgow, Iain Packer is found guilty of the April 2005
murder of Emma Caldwell, a sex worker whose body was found in woods five weeks after she disappeared from Glasgow. Packer, who is also convicted of 32 other offences against women, including rapes and sexual assaults, is sentenced to at least 36 years in prison, the second longest prison sentence to be handed out by a Scottish court.[222]
Angiolini Inquiry: The public inquiry into the
murder of Sarah Everard finds that her killer Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer, and that opportunities to detect his offending were missed. The report contains 16 recommendations to prevent anyone "entrusted with the powers of a serving police officer" from abusing that trust again.[224]
Sainsbury's announces it is cutting 1,500 jobs over three years in an attempt to save £1bn.[226]
March
1 March
35-year-old Marcus Osborne is given a
whole life order, the most severe possible sentence available in
England and Wales, for the "sadistic" murders of Steven Harnett and Katie Higton. He receives a further 10-year sentence for the rape and false imprisonment of another woman who was present at the scene, who cannot be named for legal reasons.[227]
29-year-old
Joshua Jacques is sentenced to a minimum of 46 years in prison for murdering his girlfriend and three of her family members in a "sacrifice" at their home in Bermondsey, south London, in April 2022.[228]
The
Met Office reports that England and Wales had their warmest February on record this year, with an average of 7.5 °C recorded for England and 6.9 °C for Wales.[229]
The
Princess of Wales is photographed for the first time since her surgery, with US celebrity news site
TMZ publishing a photo of the princess riding as a passenger in a car being driven by her mother near Windsor Castle.[233] Rumours and conspiracy theories over Catherine's whereabouts have surfaced in recent weeks as she hasn't been seen in public since late December.[234]
COVID-19 in the United Kingdom: Nearly 70 healthcare workers affected by
long Covid sue the
NHS and other employers for compensation. The total number of health workers affected by the condition in the UK is estimated at 5,000–10,000.[236]
A report into the
Troubles-era British Army spy known as
Stakeknife concludes that he probably cost more lives than he saved.[240]
London's Homerton Fertility Centre has its licence to operate suspended over "significant concerns" after three separate errors in which embryos were lost during the freezing process.[241]
9 March
BBC News reports that
seedlings have begun to sprout from genetic material recovered at the site of the felled
Sycamore Gap Tree, offering hope that the iconic tree could be restored in the future.[242]
The creation of the
Elizabeth Emblem is announced. It will be awarded by the monarch to the next of kin of members of the United Kingdom emergency services who are killed on duty.[243][244] It will be the civilian equivalent of the
Elizabeth Cross.[243][244]
The 10th pro-Palestinian march to be staged in central London since the beginning of the Israel–Gaza conflict takes place, with tens of thousands of protestors calling for an immediate ceasefire.[245]
A man is arrested after a car crashes into the gates of Buckingham Palace in the early hours of the morning.[246]
10 March
Kensington Palace releases the first official photograph of the
Princess of Wales since she underwent abdominal surgery in January.[247] However, hours later, four international photo agencies –
Associated Press,
Reuters,
Getty Images and
AFP – withdraw the photo from their services over concerns it has been
photoshopped or
AI generated, after an "inconsistency in alignment of Princess Charlotte's left hand" is noted along with various other signs of digital manipulation.[248] Kensington Palace declines to comment on the photo, as speculation intensifies over why an altered photo has been published.[249]
The Mail on Sunday serialises A Very Private School,
Earl Spencer's memoirs of his schooldays at
Maidwell Hall during the 1970s, in which he alleges that he was sexually abused by a female member of staff while a boarder at the school. Spencer also alleges the school's headmaster during his time there took sexual pleasure in beating the boys. In response, the school says it has referred the allegations to a "local authority designated officer".[250]
In a post on
X (Twitter),
Catherine, Princess of Wales responds to speculation surrounding the previous day's photo and apologises for "any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused". She confirms that the photo was doctored and admits she edited it, saying "I do occasionally experiment with editing".[252]
The Office for National Statistics adds
air fryers and
vinyl records to the basket of goods it uses to calculate the cost of inflation, with vinyl music making a return after a thirty year absence.[253]
The Guardian alleges that
Frank Hester, a major donor of the
Conservative Party, said in 2019 that
Diane Abbott "should be shot" and made him "want to hate all black women".[254] Hester apologises for the comments, describing them as "rude" but "nothing to do with her gender nor colour of skin".[255] A spokesman for the prime minister describes the remarks as "
racist and wrong".[256]
12 March – Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggests a fifth of the working age population, around 9.2 million adults between the ages of 16 and 64, were not in employment between November 2023 and January 2024.[257]
13 March
Data from the Office for National Statistics indicates the UK economy grew by 0.2% in January 2024, largely fuelled by retail sales, both in the High Street and online.[258]
Sunak tells
Prime Minister's Questions he will not return £10m donated to the Conservative Party by Frank Hester, because he has apologised and "his remorse should be accepted".[259]
Metro Bank announces it will cease seven day trading from 29 March, with 1,000 jobs also being lost by the company.[260]
The UK government announces a scheme to offer failed asylum seekers £3,000 if they agree to move to Rwanda voluntarily.[261]
14 March
Russia is reported to have jammed the GPS signal of an RAF plane carrying Defence Secretary
Grant Shapps back to the UK from Poland the previous day for around 30 minutes as the plane flew near the border of the Russian territory of
Kaliningrad.[262]
Speaking in the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
Michael Gove outlines the UK government's new definition of extremism, and names five groups that would be assessed against the new criteria. They are the
British National Socialist Movement,
Patriotic Alternative, the
Muslim Association of Britain,
CAGE and
Muslim Engagement and Development. The new definition is criticised by civil liberties and community groups, while most of the groups named by Gove threaten legal action if they are added to the list.[263]
The news website Tortoise Media reports that the Conservatives have received a further £5m in donations from Frank Hester that are yet to be declared.[266]
Sainsbury's apologises to its online customers after a technical error meant that orders could not be fulfilled.[268]
18 March – At
Manchester Crown Court, Jacob Graham is sentenced to 13 years in prison together with a further five year extended period on licence for creating a "freedom encyclopaedia" containing details on how to build weapons for the purposes of terrorism.[269]
19 March
At
Southend Crown Court, 39-year-old Nicholas Hawkes, the first person in England and Wales to be convicted of
cyberflashing, is sentenced to 66 weeks in prison. This new offence follows passage of the
Online Safety Act, which came into effect on 31 January.[270]
HMRC announces that its self-assessment helpline will be closed for six months of the year, with the line scheduled to close from 8 April to 30 September. Customers seeking help during that period will be forced to use an online chatbot.[271]
The
British Board of Film Classification updates its guidelines, meaning films containing scenes of sex or nudity are more likely to receive a 15 rather than a 12A rating going forward.[272]
20 March
Inflation falls from 4% to 3.4%, its lowest rate since September 2021.[273]
HMRC reverses the plan for its self-assessment helpline, announced the previous day, following criticism from the public and MPs.[274]
The Senedd approves Vaughan Gething as the next First Minister of Wales.[275]
The London Clinic, where the Princess of Wales underwent abdominal surgery, announces that "any breach" of patient confidentiality will be investigated after reports a member of staff tried to access her private records.[276]
21 March
The
Bank of England leaves interest rates unchanged at 5.25%, for the fifth time in a row.[277]
A report published by the
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman recommends women born in the 1950s who were affected by the 2010 changes to the state pension age should receive compensation of between £1,000 and £2,900.[278]
22 March
Following media speculation about her health, it is revealed that the
Princess of Wales has been diagnosed with
cancer and is undergoing treatment.[279]
Wetherspoons reports an eightfold increase in pre-tax profits during the first six months of the 2023–24 financial year.[280]
23 March – A report compiled by the
Resolution Foundation indicates a rise in the number of people leaving work due to long-term health conditions, with the number of people inactive due to long-term health conditions rising from 2.1 million in 2019 to 2.8 million in October 2023, the longest sustained rise since 1994–1998 when records began. The UK is also the only country in the
G7 not to return to pre-
pandemic employment levels.[281]
24 March –
Avanti West Coast is to increase the fee for an overtime shift for its drivers by 380% following a deal with train drivers' union ASLEF.[282]
26 March
Pizza retailer
Papa John's announces the closure of 43 of its 450 UK outlets.[283]
27 March – Provisional figures from the
Home Office indicate that 4,644 migrants have crossed the English Channel in boats during the first three months of 2024.[285]
28 March – BBC News publishes details of a 2016 draft report that implies the Post Office knew its defence case in the
Horizon IT scandal was false, and that it had not made full disclosure to defendants.[286]
Pouria Zeraati, an anti-Iranian regime journalist working for
Iran International, is stabbed by a group of people in London. He is taken to hospital, where he is in stable condition.[289]
30 March
First Minister of Northern Ireland
Michelle O'Neill says she is determined the Stormont Assembly and Executive will continue to function following the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson as DUP leader.[290]
Charles III makes his first public appearance since being diagnosed with cancer when he attends the Easter Sunday service at Windsor.[292]
The UK government says it will work alongside the Northern Ireland Executive to maintain stability at Stormont.[293]
April
1 April
The cost of an average annual energy bill falls by £238 to £1,690 under the latest
Ofgem price cap, its lowest for two years.[294]
The cost of a
TV licence increases by £10.50 from £159 to £169.50.[295]
The
National Living Wage rises from £10.42 to £11.44 per hour, and is extended to workers over 21.[296]
2 April
Royal Mail stamp increases – 1st class standard stamp goes up by 10p to £1.35 and 2nd class standard increases by 10p to 85p. Other postage has increased too.
Three Britons, named as John Chapman, James Henderson and James Kirby, are identified as being among seven people working for the food charity
World Central Kitchen, who were killed during
air strikes in Gaza the previous day.[297]
Data compiled by the
British Retail Consortium indicates falling prices of sugar, jam and chocolate helped to reduce food inflation to its lowest level for two years in March.[298]
3 April – The Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and former UK national security adviser Lord Ricketts call for an immediate suspension of the sale of arms to Israel following the World Central Kitchen air strikes.[299]
4 April
Three former
Supreme Court justices and more than 600 legal experts call for the UK government to end weapons sales to Israel, saying the UK risks breaking international law over a "plausible risk of genocide" in Gaza.[300]
Foreign Secretary
David Cameron rules out sending western troops to Ukraine since it would provide Russia with a "target".[301]
At Leeds Crown Court, Piran Ditta Khan, who planned the 2005 robbery during which
PC Sharon Beshenivsky was shot dead, is convicted of her murder. He is the last of the seven-member gang involved in the robbery to stand trial.[302]
The deadline for installing new scanners at airports is extended, meaning airline passengers at major airports will continue to face limits on the amount of liquid they can carry in hand luggage.[303]
The
Met Office issues a yellow severe weather warning for wintry showers and high winds ahead of the arrival of
Storm Kathleen, expected to reach the UK on 6 April.[304]
5 April –
John Tinniswood, a great-grandfather from Merseyside, officially becomes the world's oldest living man at the age of 111 years and 283 days.[305]
6 April
Former Prime Minister
Boris Johnson describes calls for the UK to end arms sales to Israel as "shameful".[306]
Two planes collide at Heathrow Airport causing damage to both aircraft, but there are no injuries to people on board.[307]
7 April
Deputy Prime Minister
Oliver Dowden tells the BBC he still believes it is legal for the UK to sell arms to Israel.[308]
Analysis by BBC News suggests that those running the Post Office were paid £19.4m during the 24 years of the Horizon IT scandal.[309]
William Wragg steps down as vice chairman of the
1922 Committee of Tory MPs, after sharing MPs' personal phone numbers with someone on a dating app.[311]
9 April
Widespread travel and other disruption is reported around the UK, following an exceptionally high tide combined with strong winds.[312]
The BBC reports that security is to be increased at
Champions League games, following threats from a pro-
IS media channel.[313]
Foreign Secretary David Cameron confirms that the UK will not suspend the sale of arms to Israel.[314]
A review into gender services carried out by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass calls for gender services for young people to match the standards of other NHS care.[316]
Five people are arrested after pro-Palestinian protestors spray red paint on the
Ministry of Defence building in London.[317]
Meta lowers the minimum age for
WhatsApp users in the UK and EU from 16 to 13.[318]
The
Metropolitan Police says it will partly reinvestigate its decision to charge television presenter
Caroline Flack with assaulting her boyfriend because "new witness evidence may be available".[320]
12 April
Data from the Office for National Statistics shows the UK economy grew by 0.1% in February, which is attributed to increases in production and manufacturing.[321]
Former subpostmaster
Alan Bates says he will consider raising funds to bring a private prosecution against Post Office bosses over the Horizon IT scandal.[323]
Sunak confirms that RAF fighter jets shot down "a number of drones" fired at Israel by Iran.[326]
Richard Lee, whose daughter
Katrice Lee disappeared near a British military base in
Paderborn, Germany, in 1981, says he will hand back his Army medals in protest at how the case was handled.[327]
Charities supporting asylum seekers announce plans to launch legal challenges to moving people to Rwanda once legislation declaring it a safe country is passed in the coming days.[329]
BBC News reports that documents seen by its journalists reveal the full extent of the number of medical trials using
infected blood products on children during the 1970s and 1980s.[341]
Retail sales in the UK saw zero growth in March as consumers cut back on their spending due to ongoing financial pressures brought about by the cost of living crisis.[343]
In a speech on
welfare, Sunak sets out plans to tackle what he describes as the UK's "
sick note culture" by stripping GPs in England of their authority to sign people off work. In response Labour says the government has failed to deliver a healthy nation or economy and has "run out of ideas".[344]
Research by
Ofcom indicates that almost a quarter of children aged between five and seven have their own smartphones, with two fifths of them regularly using messaging services such as
WhatsApp, even though it has a minimum age restriction of 13.[345]
The Metropolitan Police apologises to antisemitism charity leader Gideon Falter, who was threatened with arrest by one of its officers for being near a pro-Palestinian march on 13 April, and who was described by the officer as being "openly Jewish".[347]
Chris Stark, head of the
Climate Change Committee, tells the BBC that Rishi Sunak has "set us back" on
climate change, in contrast to the progress made under Theresa May and Boris Johnson. In response, a government spokesperson says: "We are the first major economy to halve greenhouse gas emissions since 1990 and have set into law one of the most ambitious 2035 climate change targets of any major economy".[349]
Co-op Live, the UK's largest indoor arena seating 23,500 and costing £365m to build, opens in Manchester.[350] The venue is forced to apologise, however, after cancelling some tickets to a test gig with
Rick Astley and offers ticketholders affected tickets to another concert.[351]
Parliament passes the
Safety of Rwanda Bill, with plans to deport the first asylum seekers to Kigali in July.[354]
Newsreader
Huw Edwards resigns from the BBC, nine months after being suspended following allegations of sexual misconduct and being admitted to hospital with "serious mental health issues".[355]
Drivers at 16 train operators announce a series of one-day rolling strikes between 7 and 9 May.[357]
Co-op Live announces the postponement of its opening events starring
Peter Kay as the venue is not ready.[358]
23 April
Office for National Statistics data indicates UK government borrowing was at £120.7bn in March 2024, lower than the figure for the same time the previous year, but £6.6bn higher than the government's forecasts.[359]
Five migrants including a child are reported to have died attempting to cross the
English Channel in a small boat, just hours after passage of the Rwanda Bill.[360]
Sunak pledges an additional £500m to support
Ukraine, on top of the £2.5bn allocated for this financial year.[361]
Sunak announces "the biggest strengthening of our
national defence in a generation, to meet the challenge of an increasingly dangerous world". He confirms that defence spending will increase from 2.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 2.5% by 2030, meaning an extra £75bn for the military over the next six years.[362]
24 April
Four people are injured and several vehicles are damaged as a number of runaway
horses – one seemingly covered in blood – escape from the
Household Cavalry and gallop through central London.[363]
Three people are injured and one arrested after a stabbing incident at a school in
Ammanford,
Wales.[364]
Unions claim that 70,000 civil service jobs will be cut in order to fund an increase in defence spending. Chancellor Hunt says that cuts in public spending will cost "a great deal less" than allowing Russia to win.[365]
Shoplifting is reported to have hit a record high in 2023, with more than 430,000 offences recorded. This figure is up by more than one-third compared to 2022, and likely represents a fraction of the true number of incidents.[368]
In the High Court,
Laurence Fox is ordered to pay £180,000 in libel damages to former
Stonewall trustee Simon Blake and drag artist
Crystal.[369]
The Environment Minister,
Robbie Moore says "Additional time will be needed to efficiently and effectively roll out the schemes across the UK," as the Cash for Bottle deposit scheme is delayed until October 2027.[370]
Moroccan asylum seeker Ahmed Alid is convicted of the murder of Terence Carney, who was stabbed multiple times in an attack at Hartlepool in October 2023.[371]
Gary Roden resigns as the general manager of Co-op Live following a series of problems and delays at the venue.[372]
26 April
A trial begins of the first personalised
melanoma vaccine, based on
mRNA, the same technology as current COVID vaccines.[373]
Buckingham Palace announces that King Charles will resume his public duties from the following week after making good progress with his cancer treatment.[374]
An inquest into the
2020 Reading stabbings concludes they could have been avoided but for problems with the sharing of intelligence between authorities.[375]
A teenage girl from Greater Manchester is believed to be the first child to be subject to a stalking order after a prolonged campaign of harassment against a family in the area.[376]
Two British men are charged with helping Russian intelligence following a suspected arson attack on a Ukrainian business in London.[377]
27 April – Conservative MP and ex-minister
Daniel Poulter defects to Labour, saying he has concerns over the NHS and other public services.[378]
28 April – Irish Taoiseach
Simon Harris looks at creating legislation to allow the return of asylum seekers to the UK after figures show that 80% of recent asylum seekers arriving in
Ireland are people who crossed from
Northern Ireland.[379]
Brexit: Physical checks begin on meat and dairy products, plants, seeds, and a number of other goods imported from the
European Union, which are expected to cost British firms about £330m per year.[381]
2024 Hainault sword attack: A 14-year-old boy is killed and four other people are wounded by a man wielding a
sword in
Hainault, northeast London. The attacker is arrested and police say the incident is not terror-related.[382]
With 90% of council election results announced, the Conservatives have lost over 400 council seats, while Labour regains control of Hartlepool, Redditch, Rushmoor and Thurrock Councils.[395]
5 May – With all votes counted, the results from the local elections in England are: Labour 1,158 (+186), Liberal Democrat 522 (+104), Conservative 515 (−474), Independents and others 228 (+93), Green 181 (+74), Residents' Association 48 (+11), Workers Party of Britain 4 (+4), Reform UK 2 (+2).[400]
The
NHS will roll out laser interstitial thermal therapy (known as LITT) next month in England to help reduce seizures for patients with
epilepsy that cannot be controlled by standard
anti-seizure drugs.[402]
Farmers call for a vaccine to be developed against
bluetongue disease after 126 cases are reported in cattle and sheep, spread by infected
midges blown from northern Europe.[406]
China is suspected of hacking the UK armed forces payroll.[407]
Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover, defects from the Conservatives to Labour as
Prime Minister's Questions begins in the Commons, saying in a statement: "Under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives have become a byword for incompetence and division."[412]
Former cricketer
Monty Panesar of the
Workers Party, withdraws his candidacy to stand for election as the next MP for
Ealing Southall in the 2024 general election as he needs more time to "mature and find my political feet".[413]
9 May
The
Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold at 5.25% for the sixth time in a row. The governor
Andrew Bailey says the committee needs to "see more evidence" of falling
inflation before cutting the base rate.[414]
The UK government announces that legislation will be brought forward to ban sex offenders in England and Wales from changing their names to avoid detection.[415]
10 May
The UK economy is reported to have moved out of
recession, with 0.6% growth between January and March, the fastest rate for two years.[416]
75-year-old Piran Ditta Khan is sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 40 years, for the shooting dead of police officer
Sharon Beshenivsky during an armed robbery in 2005.[417]
Two elderly women from climate protest group
Just Stop Oil target
Magna Carta in the
British Library, attempting to smash its glass container with a hammer and chisel. The documents themselves are undamaged.[418]
The Liberty, a device that allows cancer patients to take some blood tests at home and upload the data, is given approval for use at 12 cancer treatment sites within the NHS.[419]
The Co-op Live arena says it is ready to open after completing safety checks, with
Elbow scheduled to perform as the opening act on 14 May.[420]
11 May – The hottest day of the year so far is recorded by the
Met Office, with temperatures peaking at 25.9 °C (78.6 °F) in
Herstmonceux,
East Sussex.[421]
Changes to the welfare system require people on
Universal Credit to work 18 hours a week, with those on less than 16 hours a week required to look for more work.[426]
14 May – Manchester's Co-op Live venue finally opens after being beset by problems that delayed its launch.[427]
At a campaign event in Essex,
Labour leaderKeir Starmer outlines the first steps his party will take if they win the
next general election. These are: economic stability, a cut in NHS waiting times in England, a new Border Security Command, the establishment of Great British Energy, a crackdown on antisocial behaviour in England, and 6,500 more teachers in England.[430]
South West Water says it believes a faulty valve may have allowed a parasite to enter the water network.[432]
17 May
Moroccan asylum seeker Ahmed Alid is sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 45 years, for the murder of 70-year-old Terence Carney in Hartlepool.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb tells Alid: "The murder of Terence Carney was a
terrorist act in which you hoped to influence the British government. You hoped to frighten the British people and undermine the freedoms they enjoy."[433]
The UK Health Security Agency confirms the number of cases of cryptosporidiosis in south Devon has risen to 46.[434]
South West Water tells residents in most of
Brixham, south Devon they no longer have to boil water before drinking it, but continues to advise households in upper Brixham, Hillhead and Kingswear to do so.[436]
The Met Office issues a weather warning for severe thunderstorms for Wales, south west England and the West Midlands.[437]
A number of people are reported to be isolating on the cruise ship MV Ventura with gastrointestinal symptoms.[438]
Technical problems result in customers being unable to use the
M&S website and app for several hours.[439]
Declassified documents clear the
Welsh Guards of any responsibility in the
Argentinian Air Force bombing of RFA Sir Galahad on 8 June 1982, leading to the biggest loss of British lives during the
Falklands war; some had blamed the Welsh Guards for disobeying orders to leave the ship, where 48 crewmen were killed.[440]
19 May – South West Water apologises after 30 households in south Devon were wrongly told they could stop boiling water.[441]
20 May
The results of a
public inquiry into the
contaminated blood scandal are published. The report accuses doctors, the government, and the NHS of trying to cover-up mistakes, which led to over 3,000 deaths and 30,000 infections of
hepatitis C and
HIV, described by inquiry chair
Sir Brian Langstaff as "a calamity."[442]
The
High Court grants permission to
WikiLeaks founder
Julian Assange to appeal against his extradition order to the US over the alleged leaking of military secrets.[443]
Conservative MP
Anthony Mangnall, whose constituency covers
Brixham, calls for customers of
South West Water to receive compensation they "deserve", following the recent outbreak of cryptosporidium.[444]
21 May
In the Commons, Paymaster General
John Glen lays out details of the compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal, which is estimated to cost £10bn.[445]
A 73-year-old British man named as Geoff Kitchen dies on a flight bound from London to Singapore, following severe turbulence on the plane, while several others are seriously injured.[447]
Online car retailer
Cazoo goes into administration after a restructuring process in which several hundred jobs were lost.[449]
22 May
The ONS reports that UK inflation fell to 2.3% in April, its lowest rate for nearly three years.[450]
Ex-Post Office boss
Paula Vennells breaks down in tears at the inquiry into the
Horizon IT scandal, as she acknowledges that what she told MPs and colleagues in one meeting about prosecutions of sub-postmasters wasn't true.[451]
2024 general election: Senior Conservative MPs
Michael Gove and
Andrea Leadsom announce they are not standing for re-election. The total number of Conservatives confirming they will not stand again is now at 78, beating the previous record of 72 in
1997.[457]
2024 general election: Rishi Sunak announces a plan to bring back a form of mandatory national service for 18-year-olds if his party is re-elected.[461][462]
Former chief scientific adviser to the government
Sir Patrick Vallance, speaking at a panel event in Wales, says that another
pandemic is "absolutely inevitable" and urges the next government to prepare for it, warning "we are not ready yet".[463]
31 May – BBC News reports that the
Battle of Britain Memorial Flight will not fly as part of
D-Day anniversary events following the death of Squadron Leader Mark Long.[471]
June
3 June
The payment of around half a million
Child Benefit payments is delayed after a technical issue at
HMRC.[472]
Provisional Met Office data shows that the UK had both its warmest May and warmest
spring on record.[473]
A woman is arrested for throwing a
milkshake at
Nigel Farage at his election campaign launch in
Clacton-on-Sea. A man is also arrested in connection with the incident.[475]
Asian hornets are reported to have survived a UK winter for the first time. The invasive species is a potential threat to honey bees and other native pollinators.[476]
A cyberattack at several London hospitals forces operations to be cancelled and emergency patients to be diverted elsewhere.[477]
5–6 June – Events take place in the UK and France to mark the 80th anniversary of the
Normandy landings. The King pays tribute to veterans in Portsmouth, while the Prime Minister speaks at the British Normandy Memorial in
Ver-sur-Mer.[481][482]
The number of people becoming ill from a recent outbreak of E. coli across the UK exceeds 100.[484]
7 June
Rishi Sunak is criticised for leaving the D-day commemorations early to return to the UK to work on the election campaign.[485] He says: "On reflection, it was a mistake not to stay in France longer – and I apologise."[486]
Data produced by
Zoopla indicates that rents for new properties rose by 6.6% in the year to April 2024, but that this was the slowest rise in two and a half years.[487]
9 June – Restrictions on carrying more than 100ml of liquid in hand luggage are temporarily reintroduced at some regional airports in order to "enable further improvements to be made" to new checkpoint systems. Those affected are
Newcastle,
Leeds Bradford,
London City,
Aberdeen,
Southend and
Teesside.[488]
10 June – Twenty buildings across the UK are vandalised as part of a co-ordinated attack by
Palestine Action, a pro-Palestine group.[489]
11 June
A High Court judge rules that convicted sex offender
Gary Glitter must pay more than £500,000 to a victim he abused when she was 12 years old.[490]
A 28-year-old man is arrested on suspicion of public order offences after objects are thrown at Nigel Farage during a campaign tour in
Barnsley.[491]
7 October – From this date onwards, all UK payment service providers are required to reimburse victims of
authorised push payment fraud. This new regulation supersedes a voluntary code introduced in May 2019, of which only 10 payment service providers were members.[495]