2017 in the United Kingdom


Events from the year 2017 in the United Kingdom. This year was the Sapphire Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.

Incumbents

Events

January

February

March

April

May

  • 4 May
  • *Buckingham Palace announces that the Duke of Edinburgh is to step down from carrying out royal engagements in the autumn.
  • *Local government elections are held across England, Scotland and Wales. The Conservative Party makes significant gains at the expense of the Labour Party, gaining 500 seats and seizing control of 11 councils. UKIP loses all 145 seats they were defending. The Liberal Democrats lose 41 seats, despite their share of the vote increasing. Labour is pushed into third place by the Conservatives in Scotland, where the SNP is comfortably the largest party despite failing to take control of target councils. The Conservatives win four out of six metro-mayoral areas, including in the traditionally Labour-voting Tees Valley and West Midlands.
  • 5 May – Paper £5 notes featuring Elizabeth Fry cease to be legal tender in the UK.
  • 12 May – Computers across the United Kingdom are hit by a large-scale ransomware cyber-attack, causing major disruption.
  • 22 May – Manchester Arena is attacked by a suicide bomber following a music concert by American singer Ariana Grande, resulting in multiple casualties. It is the most deadly attack in the UK since the 7 July 2005 London bombings and the first in the North of England since the IRA bombing of Manchester in June 1996.
  • 23 May – general election campaigning from all major political parties is temporarily suspended after the attack in Manchester.
  • 24 May
  • *The UK's terror threat level is raised from "severe" to "critical", its highest possible level, for the first time in ten years; meaning not only is an attack being highly likely, it is "expected imminently".
  • *As police investigate a "network" relating to the Manchester Arena attack, up to 5,000 military personnel are deployed onto the streets of Britain. Seven people are arrested, including the bomber's 23-year-old brother. The suicide bomber is confirmed to have been 22-year-old Salman Abedi, who lived in the city and was the son of Libyan immigrants.
  • 25 May – Police investigating the Manchester bombing reveal they have stopped sharing information with the US, following leaks to the media.
  • 27 May
  • *British Airways experiences a global IT system failure, causing severe disruption to flights worldwide.
  • *In football, Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 to win the FA Cup for a record thirteenth time.

June

  • 3 June
  • *Seven people are reported killed and 48 injured in an attack by three Islamist extremists at London Bridge. A hit-and-run vehicle on the bridge is followed by knife attacks at Borough Market. All three perpetrators are shot dead by police within eight minutes.
  • *Reynhard Sinaga, an Indonesian student living in Manchester is arrested on one count of rape. Later investigations reveal him to be a prolific rapist in British legal history, having poisoned and raped up to 200 men.
  • 4 June – General election campaigning is suspended by most major political parties for a day following the previous evening's attack in London. Prime Minister Theresa May confirms the general election will go ahead as scheduled on 8 June.
  • 7 June – Solar, wind and nuclear power each provide more electricity than gas and coal combined for the first time in the UK.
  • 8 June – general election 2017: The Conservatives remain the largest party, but fail to get enough seats for a majority, leading to a hung parliament. In a surprise result, they are reduced from 330 to 318 seats. PM Theresa May rejects calls for her to resign and attempts to form a coalition with the DUP, which would give her 10 additional seats. Labour gain 32 seats, with particular success in London; the SNP suffers heavy losses with 21 fewer seats; the Liberal Democrats gain four seats for a total of 12; UKIP lose their sole seat and Paul Nuttall resigns as party leader.
  • 10 June – 10 Downing Street issues a statement claiming the Democratic Unionist Party have agreed a confidence-and-supply deal to support a Conservative minority government. However, both parties subsequently confirm that talks about an agreement are still ongoing.
  • 11 June – The England national under-20 football team win the FIFA U-20 World Cup for the first time beating Venezuela by 1 goal to nil in the final.
  • 14 June
  • *A major fire engulfs Grenfell Tower in West London, with 71 fatalities eventually officially confirmed and more than 70 people taken to hospital.
  • *Tim Farron resigns as leader of the Liberal Democrats.
  • 18 June – The Government announces that there will be no Queen's Speech in 2018, to give MPs more time to deal with Brexit laws.
  • 19 June
  • *2017 Finsbury Park attack: One person is killed and ten others are injured after a van is deliberately rammed into pedestrians near Finsbury Park Mosque. 47-year-old Darren Osborne, who shouted that he wanted to "kill all Muslims", is arrested after members of the public subdue him.
  • *Brexit Secretary David Davis heads to Brussels as formal negotiations with the EU get underway.
  • 21 June
  • *As the heatwave continues, the UK experiences its hottest June day since 1976, with a temperature of 34.4C recorded at Heathrow Airport.
  • *Matthew Falder, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Birmingham, is arrested at his place of work and later charged with 137 offences relating to blackmail and voyeurism. He is sentenced to 32 years in prison, later reduced to 25 years on appeal.
  • 24 June – Police investigate a cyberattack on the Houses of Parliament after an attempt was made to gain unauthorised access to politicians' email accounts.
  • 26 June – The Conservatives agree a £1 billion deal with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party to support Theresa May's Conservative minority government.
  • 27 June – Nicola Sturgeon announces that she will delay plans for a proposed second Scottish independence referendum.
  • 30 June – The leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, Nick Paget-Brown, resigns following criticism over the Grenfell Tower fire enquiry.

July

  • 1 July – Thousands of people march in London in the "Not One Day More" protest against the government's economic policies.
  • 3 July – French energy supplier EDF raises the estimated cost of completing the new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant from £18 billion to £19.6 billion.
  • 9 July – The Lake District becomes an officially recognised UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  • 11 July – The government announces more than £100 million of investment in the UK's space sector.
  • 12 July – A gay man, John Walker, wins a landmark ruling at the Supreme Court, giving his husband the same pension rights as a wife would receive.
  • 16 July – Lewis Hamilton wins a fifth British Grand Prix, and fifth career grand slam. His fourth back-to-back win at his home race. Additionally, equaling Alain Prost and Jim Clark with 5 British Grand Prix wins.
  • 18 July – Gains in life expectancy in England are reported to have slowed to a halt, after more than 100 years of continuous progress.
  • 19 July – The government announces that a rise in the State Pension age to 68 will be phased in between 2037 and 2039, rather than from 2044 as was originally planned. This will affect 6 million men and women currently aged between 39 and 47 years old.
  • 20 July
  • *Sir Vince Cable becomes the new leader of the Liberal Democrats after nominations close without any challengers.
  • *The Office for National Statistics reports that crime in England and Wales has seen its largest annual rise in a decade, increasing by 10% overall between April 2016 and March 2017, with violent crime up by 18%.
  • 22 July
  • *The Government announces plans to introduce drone registration and safety awareness courses for owners of the small unmanned aircraft.
  • *The UK Independence Party loses overall control of Thanet District Council, the only local authority it runs, after one of its councillors defects to the Conservative Party.
  • 26 July
  • *The government announces that all new diesel and petrol cars and vans will be banned in the UK from 2040.
  • *The Supreme Court rules that employment tribunal fees are unlawful, meaning the government will have to repay up to £32m to claimants.

August

  • 2 August – The Duke of Edinburgh carries out his final official engagement before retiring from public duties at age 96.
  • 4 August – The World Athletic Championships start at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
  • 6 August – In a repeat of the FA Cup Final in May, Arsenal beat Chelsea on penalties following a 1–1 draw to win the 2017 FA Community Shield. All proceeds are donated to victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.
  • 10 August – A trade analysis by the Environmental Investigations Agency shows that the UK is the world's largest legal ivory exporter.
  • 16 August – The Royal Navy's new £3bn aircraft carrier,, arrives in her home port of Portsmouth for the first time.
  • 21 August – The chimes of Big Ben fall silent as a four-year renovation of the building begins.

September

  • 1 September – Women are eligible to join the RAF Regiment, making the Royal Air Force the first of the British armed services to accept both genders in all roles.
  • 4 September – A survey by the National Centre for Social Research finds that, for the first time, a majority of adults in the UK describe themselves as non-religious.
  • 11 September – In a Commons vote, MPs back the EU Withdrawal Bill by 326 to 290, as critics warn it represents a "power grab" by ministers.
  • 14 September – A new £10 polymer banknote is released, featuring Jane Austen.
  • 15 September – Parsons Green train bombing: A blast and fire on a District line train at Parsons Green station in London is treated as a terrorist attack. A number of people suffer burn injuries, while others are injured during the trample to escape. There are 29 injures in total, but no deaths and no reports of any life-threatening injuries. The UK terror threat is raised to its highest level as police hunt the perpetrator, who is arrested the following day at the Port of Dover.
  • 20 September – UK scientists edit the DNA of human embryos for the first time.
  • 22 September
  • *Transport for London announces that Uber is "not fit and proper" to operate in London and will not have its licence renewed.
  • *The UK's credit rating is downgraded by Moody's, from Aa1 to Aa2.
  • 27 September – Measles is declared eradicated in the UK.

October

November

  • 1 November
  • *Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon resigns following allegations of inappropriate past behaviour.
  • *The Government loses an opposition vote calling on it to publish impact assessments of Brexit on more than 50 key industries.
  • 2 November
  • *Gavin Williamson replaces Michael Fallon as defence secretary.
  • *The Bank of England raises interest rates for the first time in 10 years, from 0.25 to 0.5%.
  • 5 November – A huge new leak of documents known as the Paradise Papers is reported by the BBC's Panorama programme, revealing how the wealthy and powerful, including the Queen's private estate, invest offshore.
  • 7 November – Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's First Minister, apologises to gay men convicted of sexual offences that are no longer illegal as new legislation is introduced that will automatically pardon gay and bisexual men convicted under historical laws.
  • 13 November – David Davis announces that Parliament will be given a vote on the final Brexit deal before the United Kingdom leaves the European Union in 2019.
  • 15 November – A report by the British Medical Journal shows that NHS and social care austerity has been responsible for 120,000 excess deaths since 2010 under the Tories.
  • 16 November – The Metropolitan Police announces that 71 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire have been formally identified and that all those who died have been recovered.
  • 17 November
  • *Sarah Clarke, current championship director of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, is appointed as the first female Black Rod. She will take up the position in January 2018, and have the title "The Lady Usher of the Black Rod".
  • 18 November
  • *Richard Leonard is elected as the new Scottish Labour leader after Kezia Dugdale resigned from the role in August.
  • *Gerry Adams announces his intention to stand down as Sinn Féin president in 2018.
  • 20 November
  • *The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary.
  • *In the wake of Britain's decision to leave the EU, it is announced that the European Banking Authority will be moved from London to Paris, while the European Medicines Agency will be moved from London to Amsterdam.
  • 21 November – The UK loses its seat on the International Court of Justice for the first time since the UN's principal legal body began in 1946.
  • 22 November – Chancellor Phillip Hammond delivers the November 2017 budget.
  • 23 November
  • * The European Commission states that UK participation in the European Capital of Culture will no longer be possible.
  • * Closure of last iron foundry in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire.
  • 24 November – A sixteen-year-old girl who admitted killing seven-year-old Katie Rough in York is detained for life and ordered to serve a minimum term of five years.
  • 26 November – Sailors of the Royal Navy perform the Changing of the Guard ceremony in London for the first time in its history.

December

  • 3 December – Alan Milburn and the entire Social Mobility Commission quit their roles, citing ‘lack of political leadership’, a repeated refusal to properly resource and staff the commission, an obsession with Brexit and an ‘absence’ of policy.
  • 7 December – Coventry is named the UK City of Culture 2021.
  • 8 December – The United Kingdom and European Union reach agreement on the first stage of Brexit.
  • 11 December – Mount Hope in the British Antarctic Territory is found to be the highest mountain in British territory.
  • 12 December – The UK's key inflation rate – the consumer prices index – rises to 3.1%, the highest level in nearly six years.
  • 13 December – After a rebellion by Tory MPs, the government is defeated in a key vote on Brexit, with MPs voting in favour of giving Parliament a say on the final deal struck with the EU.
  • 14 December – The Scottish government's budget proposes splitting the 20% income tax band into three with a new lower band of 19%, a 20% band, and a 21% band for those earning over £24,000.
  • 20 December – The EU announces that the UK's Brexit transition period will end no later than 31 December 2020.

Publications

Births

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December