2020s in United Kingdom history

[1] The government responded to the pandemic in March 2020 by enacting emergency powers and widespread societal measures including several lockdowns, and approved a vaccination programme which began in December 2020.

[6] The publishing of the Sue Gray report in May 2022 and a widespread sense of dissatisfaction led in June 2022 to a vote of confidence in his leadership among Conservative MPs, which he won.

[7][8] In late June 2022, the Conservative MP Chris Pincher resigned as deputy chief government whip after an allegation was made that he had sexually assaulted two men.

Truss defeated Rishi Sunak in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election on 5 September and was appointed prime minister the following day.

Elizabeth II's death on 8 September caused government business to be suspended during a national mourning period of 10 days.

Suella Braverman resigned as Home Secretary on 19 October after admitting to having used her personal email address to send a Cabinet document.

On the evening of 19 October, MPs voted to reject a motion which would guarantee parliamentary time for a bill to ban fracking in the UK.

Following these events, together with mounting criticism and loss of confidence in her leadership, Truss announced on 20 October her intention to resign as party leader and as prime minister.

In January 2023, Sunak outlined five key priorities; halving inflation, growing the economy, cutting debt, reducing NHS waiting lists, and stopping the boats, and expected voters to hold his government and himself to account on delivering those goals.

In February 2023, Sunak negotiated a proposed agreement with the European Union (EU) on Northern Ireland's trading arrangements which was published as the "Windsor Framework".

Domestically, Starmer has said he will focus on economic growth, planning system reforms, infrastructure, energy, healthcare, education, childcare, and strengthening workers' rights, all of which were outlined in the Labour Party's 2024 election manifesto.

He established the Border Security Command to replace the Rwanda asylum plan, to tackle smuggling gangs which facilitate illegal migrant crossings over the English Channel.

Within his first month in office, Starmer faced his first major domestic event, the ongoing riots across the country following the Southport stabbing, which Starmer responded to by announcing the establishment of a national violent disorder programme to facilitate greater cooperation between police forces when dealing with violent disorder.

Starmer told Benjamin Netanyahu later that month that the UK would continue cooperation to deter malign threats with Israel.

From 30 July to 5 August 2024,[a] far-right, anti-immigration protests and riots occurred in England and Northern Ireland,[b] within the United Kingdom.

The riots were fuelled by false claims circulated by far-right groups that the perpetrator of the attack was a Muslim and an asylum seeker, in addition to broader Islamophobic, racist, and anti-immigrant sentiments that had grown leading up to the protests.

[25] The disorder included racist attacks, arson, and looting and was the largest incident of social unrest in England since 2011.

On 2 August, rioting took place in Sunderland, where a Citizens Advice bureau was set on fire and police officers were injured and several people were arrested.

[42] The contest was delayed by six weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic with the winner being declared in late August, until then MP Sir Ed Davey and the party's president Mark Pack remained its acting leadership.

[50] Ian Blackford announced his intention to stand down from his role of Leader of the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons on 1 December 2022.

[59] In 2021, Alba Party was formed by Alex Salmond, being joined by former SNP politicians Kenny MacAskill, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh, Neale Hanvey, Ash Regan, Tommy Sheridan and Corri Wilson.

[61] In Wales, Plaid Cymru was led by Adam Price and underperformed against Welsh Labour in the 2021 Senedd election with the high-profile former leader Leanne Wood being unseated.

It was suggested that this may have been in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic leading to higher postal voting and lockdown giving people more time to engage with political activists and go to the polling station.

[69][70] Later that year, the SNP and Scottish Greens established a powersharing agreement where the latter was given non-cabinet ministerial positions in exchange for support on votes of confidence, budgets and some areas of policy.

[78] In March 2024, Vaughan Gething won the Welsh Labour leadership election to replace Mark Drakeford and become First Minister of Wales, making him the first black leader of any European country.

[80] The Northern Irish Assembly returned to business in January 2020 after a three-year hiatus with a new power sharing agreement between Sinn Féin and the DUP.

[81] On 30 April, First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster resigned as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.

[89] On 28 April 2022, Premier of the British Virgin Islands Andrew Fahie was arrested in the United States on charges related to drug trafficking and money laundering.

[65] Taking place on 6 May, the local elections saw the conservatives make a net gain of 294 councillors and 13 councils, whilst labour lost 264 and eight respectively.

[98] At the 2023 United Kingdom local elections there were significant losses for the governing Conservative Party, which lost over 1,000 council seats.