2025 in United Kingdom politics and government

Not to be confused with the 2025 United Kingdom electoral calendar.

See also: 2025 in politics and government, 2025 in the United Kingdom, and 2020s in political history

Main article: 2020s in United Kingdom political history

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A list of events relating to politics and government in the United Kingdom during 2025.

Events

January

• 2 January –
  • Former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Nick Clegg announces he is standing down as Meta's president of global affairs after almost seven years. ^[1]
  • Twenty Labour Party councillors on Broxtowe Borough Council in Nottinghamshire have resigned from Labour in protest at the direction of the party under Sir Keir Starmer and will sit as independents. ^[2]
  • Graham Sheldon resigns as leader of Oldham Council's Conservatives, and from the Conservative Party itself, after police were called to a heated council meeting on 18 December. ^[3]
  • Kemi Badenoch calls for a public inquiry into grooming gangs. ^[4]
• 3 January –
  • The UK government announces that the plans for reforms to social care in England may not be published until 2028, or later. ^[5]
  • Zoe Hughes, a transgender member of Exeter City council, quits the Labour Party in a row over transgender issues. ^[6]
• 4 January –
  • Reform UK leader Nigel Farage seeks to distance himself from Elon Musk's call for far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be released from prison. ^[7]
  • At Reform's East of England Conference in Chelmsford, Farage threatens to target Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's North West Essex seat over her allegations his party's membership figures are weak, and seems to show that the party now has 170,000 members. ^[8]
• 5 January – In a post on Twitter, Elon Musk says that Nigel Farage "doesn't have what it takes" to lead Reform UK, remarks that Farage claims stem from a disagreement over Musk's support for far-right activist Tommy Robinson. ^[9]
• 6 January –
  • The Prime Minister responds to X owner Elon Musk and others he accuses of "spreading lies and misinformation" over grooming gangs. Starmer tells reporters that these online debates have now "crossed a line", resulting in threats against MPs, including Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips. ^[10]
  • MPs debate an online petition calling for a re-run of the 2024 general election in Westminster Hall, a secondary debating chamber. ^[11]
  • Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq refers herself to the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests after controversy over her links to her aunt's political movement in Bangladesh. ^[12]
  • Justin Welby's tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury comes to an end following his resignation in November 2024. Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell assumes temporary charge of the Church of England from the following day. ^[13]
• 7 January – Minister Jess Phillips says Elon Musk is putting her in danger with misinformation about grooming gangs. ^[14]
• 8 January –
  • MPs vote 364–111 against a Conservative proposal to require the UK government to establish an inquiry into grooming gangs. ^[15]
  • The Liberal Democrats are ordered to pay £14,000 to Natalie Bird, a former parliamentary candidate who says she was driven out of the party and barred from standing as an MP over her gender-critical views. ^[16]
  • Sir Oliver Robbins is appointed Permanent Secretary to the Foreign Office, succeeding Sir Philip Barton. ^[17]
  • Patrick Harvie, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, is to take time off from the Scottish Parliament because of a medical procedure. ^[18]
  • Proposals are published to give Members of the Senedd a 6% pay rise, taking the wages for a backbench MS to £76,380 in 2025–26, up from £72,057. ^[19]
• 9 January –
  • Former Prime Minister Liz Truss sends Sir Keir Starmer a legal "cease and desist" letter demanding that he stop saying she "crashed the economy". ^[20]
  • Mick Lynch announces his retirement as general secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers. ^[21]
• 10 January –
  • Local councils have until this date to decide whether to delay their participation in the May local elections. ^[22]
  • Ten Reform UK councillors in Derbyshire resign from the party in protest at Nigel Farage's leadership, claiming the Reform is being run in an "increasingly autocratic manner" and "has lost its sense of direction" since Farage took over as leader. In response, Farage says the members were put forward by a "rogue branch" of the party and that "none of them passed vetting". ^[23]
• 13 January –
  • Buckingham Palace confirms that King Charles III will travel to Auschwitz concentration camp to attend an event marking the 80th anniversary of its liberation on 27 January. ^[24]
  • Michael Ellam is appointed at the Cabinet Office's second permanent secretary, European Union and International Economic Affairs. ^[25]
  • As Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces mounting criticism over her handling of the economy against a backdrop of a falling pound and increases in government borrowing, Downing Street says she will remain in her role "for the whole of this Parliament". ^[26]
  • In a social media post, former First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon announces that she and Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, have "decided to end" their marriage and have been separated for some time. ^[27]
  • According to Reform UK's website they now have 180,000 members. ^[28]
• 14 January –
  • Tulip Siddiq resigns as Economic Secretary to the Treasury, over a scandal linked to the ousted government of Bangladesh. She becomes the second minister to resign from the Starmer ministry since the general election of July 2024. ^[29] Emma Reynolds is appointed to replace her. ^[30]
  • Helen Pitcher resigns as chair of the Criminal Cases Review Commission following criticism from government regarding her tenure in charge of the Commission, and moves to have her removed from the post. ^[31]
  • Welsh Conservative leader Darren Millar accuses Senedd Presiding Officer Elin Jones of "inappropriately interrupting him" after she tells him to "tone down" a question about grooming gangs while he called for a fresh inquiry into child sexual abuse. ^[32]
• 15 January –
  • Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer tells the House of Commons the UK government will look at "every conceivable way" to prevent Gerry Adams, the former President of Sinn Féin, from receiving compensation after it emerged that repealing the Troubles Legacy Act could allow him to claim compensation for unlawful detention during the 1970s. ^[33]
  • Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson tells Parliament the UK government will proceed with the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act, which proposed fines for universities failing to uphold freedom of speech. ^[34]
  • Eighteen local authorities have applied to delay their elections until 2026 amid proposals for major reorganisation. ^[35]
  • Ed Davey calls for Britain to re-join the European Union Customs Union. ^[36]
  • MP Joe Morris raises the topic of "Holly's Law" in Prime Minister's Questions. ^[37]
• 16 January –
  • Keir Starmer signs a 100-year treaty with Ukraine in Kyiv. ^[38]
  • Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announces plans for a nationwide review of grooming gangs including five government-backed local inquiries. ^[39]
  • Kemi Badenoch criticises her predecessors for mishandling Brexit. ^[40]
  • Downing Street clears Emma Reynolds to be City Minister despite her past work as a lobbyist. ^[41]
  • MP Mike Amesbury admits to assault at Chester Magistrates' Court. ^[42]
  • The White House announces that Ian Paisley Jr will attend the second inauguration of Donald Trump. ^[43]
• 17 January –
  • The Greater London Authority is to investigate Mayor of London Sadiq Khan for his acceptance of tickets to a Taylor Swift concert. ^[44]
  • Westminster's Strangers' Bar is to close for a safety and security review after a report that a woman had her drink spiked. ^[45]
  • The Liberal Democrats urge the UK government to release analysis of the potential impact of the US imposing trade tariffs on the UK economy after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 20% on global imports. ^[46]
• 18 January – The BBC's Laura Kuenssberg reports that the Prime Minister has chaired a series of "mini-cabinet" meetings, along with the Chancellor, Foreign Secretary and Business Secretary, in an attempt to plan "for what might come" in terms of the effect on the UK during the Second Trump Presidency. ^[47]
• 19 January – Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell agree to be interviewed under caution by police following a pro-Palestinian rally in London. The police are investigating what they say was "a coordinated effort by organisers to breach conditions imposed on the event". ^[48]
• 21 January –
  • Marcus Bokkerink is dismissed as chair of the Competition and Markets Authority amid concerns the group is not focussed enough on economic growth; Doug Gurr replaces him on a temporary basis. ^[49]
  • First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan tells the Senedd she is lobbying the UK government to give the Welsh Government powers over the Crown Estate in Wales, after a UK government minister suggested otherwise. ^[50]
• 25 January – Sinn Féin lifts its suspension on Belfast City Councillor JJ Magee following an investigation by the Local Government Commissioner for Standards. ^[51]
• 28 January –
  • Labour's Stephen Timms is reprimanded for attending a Muslim Council of Britain dinner despite official government advice being to not engage with the organisation. ^[52]
  • Joe Fitzpatrick announces that he will not stand for re-election to the Scottish Parliament seat of Dundee City West at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election. ^[53]

May

• 1 May – 2025 United Kingdom local elections ^[54]

Deaths

• 1 January – Sally Oppenheim-Barnes, Baroness Oppenheim-Barnes, 96, British politician, minister of state for consumer affairs (1979–1982), MP (1970–1987), and member of the House of Lords (1989–2019). ^[55]
• 4 January – Jenny Randerson, Baroness Randerson, 76, Welsh politician and peer, acting Deputy First Minister of Wales (2001–2002) and member of the House of Lords (since 2011). ^[56]

References

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