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]
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 says 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]
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]
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, saying that the party 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]
Michael Ellam is appointed at the Cabinet Office's second permanent secretary, European Union and International Economic Affairs.[25]
As ChancellorRachel 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]
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 OfficerElin 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 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]
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 –
Foreign Secretary David Lammy tells the BBC the prime minister will visit the United States within weeks to meet incoming US president Donald Trump.[48]
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".[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.[51]
25 January – Sinn Féin lifts its suspension on Belfast City Councillor JJ Magee following an investigation by the Local Government Commissioner for Standards.[52]
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.[53]
Prime Minister Keir Starmer rejects an allegation that he broke COVID-19 regulations by having a voice coach present at a press conference where he responded to a Brexit deal negotiated by Boris Johnson.[56]
Northern Ireland's Economy Minister, Conor Murphy steps down from the post and announces he will leave Stormont after being elected to the Irish Seanad.[58]Caoimhe Archibald is appointed to replace him as Economy Minister.[59]
4 February –
BBC News reports that Jack Lopresti, the former Conservative MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke who lost the seat at the last general election has joined the Ukrainian military.[60]
The Welsh Conservatives are absent from a Senedd debate concerning their former leader, Andrew RT Davies, but reject allegations they are boycotting the chamber's disciplinary process.[64]
6 February – Chris McEleny is suspended as general secretary of the Alba Party following allegations of gross misconduct.[65]
7 February – Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf tells the BBC's Political Thinking podcast that history will judge Boris Johnson as one of the most damaging prime ministers in British history.[66]
8 February – Health Minister Andrew Gwynne is sacked by the prime minister after the Mail on Sunday reported he sent a string of abusive and insulting WhatsApp about constituents and colleagues. Gwynne apologises for what he describes as the "badly misjudged" messages.[67]
9 February –
Conservative shadow minister Alex Burghart tells the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg there is "not a conversation to be had" about suggestions of an electoral pact with Reform UK.[68]
Oliver Ryan, MP for Burnley, becomes the second MP to apologise for inappropriate comments made in a WhatsApp chat.[69]
Oliver Ryan is suspended from the Parliamentary Labour Party over his membership of a WhatsApp group in which offensive messages were exchanged.[71]
King Charles III gives the prime minister and deputy prime minister a tour of his environmentally friendly, sustainable housing project at Nansledan in Cornwall.[72]
MPs' basic salary is set to rise by 2.8% to £93,904 from April.[73]
Darren Millar tells the Senedd he was in the "right place at the right time" as he defends his decision to attend the National Prayer Breakfast in the United States and miss a vote on the Welsh Government's budget. Millar also says he was promoting Welsh interests while in the US.[74]
Labour suspends 11 councillors in Greater Manchester as part of its investigation into a WhatsApp group in which offensive messages were exchanged.[76]
James Garnor resigns as a member of Whittlebury Parish Council after a video was share that appeared to show an explosive device being triggered by a cat.[77]
12 February – A review into the events leading up to the murder of David Amess finds that his killer, Ali Harbi Ali, was exited from the government's Prevent anti-terror programme "too quickly" and that its handling of him was "sub-optimal".[78]
13 February –
A BBC News investigation discovers Chancellor Rachel Reeves was the subject of an expenses investigation while she was a senior manager at Halifax Bank of Scotland in the late 2000s. Her online CV is also reported to have exaggerated the length of time she was employed by the Bank of England.[79] In response, Reeves says that no concerns were raised with her at the time of the investigation.[80]
The UK government publishes a list of 100 proposed locations for potential new towns in England, with Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook saying work on them will begin before the next general election.[83]
14 February – The UK government scraps the role of independent adviser on political violence, created before the last general election.[84]
16 February – Former prime minister Sir John Major warns that the US's isolationist policy could be a threat to world democracy as it could leave a power vacuum and embolden states such as Russia and China.[85]
19 February – Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds faces calls for his resignation after he was accused of falsely saying he was a solicitor in his online CV.[87]
20 February –
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says she will raise concerns with BBC bosses over the documentary Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone, narrated by a 13-year-old boy who is the son of Hamas's deputy minister of agriculture. Hamas is a prescribed terrorist group in the UK, Israel and many other countries.[88] The film is subsequently removed from BBC iPlayer.[89]
Nigel Farage gives up ownership of Reform UK, the party he founded as a private limited company in 2018, and relinquishes his shares in the organisation.[90]
Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, is charged with offences relating to bribery and is scheduled to appear in court on Monday 24 February.[91]
Wales's Social Justice Secretary, Jane Hutt, who is the UK's longest serving minister after service in successive Welsh Governments since 1999, announces she will retire from the Senedd in 2026.[94]
Suspended Labour MP Mike Amesbury is sentenced to ten weeks in prison after admitting to punching a man to the ground in his Cheshire constituency.[96]
Westminster's Strangers' Bar is scheduled to reopen following a safety review. The establishment will have CCTV and extra security guards, while bar staff will be trained to look out for any potential safety issues.[97]
The UK government rejects a call from Plaid Cymru to devolve responsibility for the Crown Estate in Wales to the Welsh Government, saying it would make no sense to do so.[98]
Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly confirms she will travel to Washington for St Patrick's Day celebrations at the White House.[99]
25 February
Keir Starmer announces cuts to international aid to fund an increase of defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.[100]
Former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve is appointed by the UK government to lead a review into creating a new definition of Islamophobia.[109]
Owen Glass, a 10-year-old from the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, is reported to have become the youngest person to deliver a speech to the House of Commons.[110]
The Senedd votes 29–28 to approve the Welsh Government's £26bn budget for 2025–26 after Labour secured the support of Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds to achieve a majority.[115]
5 March –
In his first major interview since leaving office, former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak expresses his regret at the use of the "Stop the boats" slogan, describing it as "too stark, too binary".[116]
The UK government launches a consultation process on replacing the windfall tax on the profits of energy companies when it comes to an end in 2030.[117]
SNP ministers Shona Robison and Fiona Hyslop announce they will stand down from Holyrood at the next Scottish election.[118]
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe criticises the party's leadership under Nigel Farage, describing it as a "protest party led by the Messiah".[119]
6 March –
UK officials say that around 20 countries, largely from Europe and the Commonwealth, are interested in joining a "coalition of the willing" to provide support to Ukraine.[120]
Starmer attends a UK–Ireland summit in Liverpool alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin at which he says the two countries have "turned a page on the turbulent years" and are ready for a meaningful partnership.[121]
Conservative peer Lord Hamilton apologises after saying the Jewish community should "pay for their own" Holocaust memorial because they have "an awful lot of money" during a House of Lords debate on plans for a memorial near Parliament.[122]
7 March –
Reform UK suspends MP Rupert Lowe from the party and refers him to police, alleging he has made "threats of physical violence" against party chairman Zia Yusuf.[123]
Former Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson and city politician Derek Hatton are charged with bribery and misconduct relating to council contracts, along with 10 others.[124]
Former Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart says that Mark Drakeford, the country's First Minister during the COVID-19 pandemic, "dented people's confidence" in the UK government by saying successful aspects of the fight against COVID were Welsh Government policy and the unsuccessful were UK government policy.[125]
8 March – Former national security adviser Mark Sedwill tells the BBC's The Week at Westminster the potential deployment of UK troops to Ukraine could last "many years".[126]
Reform UK gains its first representative on Falkirk Council following the defection of ex-Conservative turned Independent councillor Claire Mackie-Brown.[133]
12 March –
Keir Starmer says the UK will "keep all options on the table" regarding Donald Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs.[134]
All 404 Labour MPs are summoned to Downing Street for a briefing on the spring statement.[135]
Former First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, announces she will stand down from the Scottish Parliament at the 2026 election.[136]
A hearing at the Old Bailey sets a trial date of 29 June 2026 for Nathan Gill, who is accused of accepting bribes to make statements in the European Parliament that would have been beneficial to Russia.[144]
The High Court rules that former Home SecretarySuella Braverman acted unlawfully by housing three asylum seekers at MDP Wethersfield in Essex between July 2023 and February 2024, where they lived in "prison like" conditions.[145]
18 March – A crackdown on government-funded credit cards is announced, with plans to reduce the 20,000 estimated to be in circulation by 50%.[149]
19 March – King Charles III and Queen Camilla pay an official visit to Northern Ireland, which includes a private meeting with the First and Deputy First Ministers.[150]
20 March –
Private WhatsApp messages are revealed in which Reform UK leader Nigel Farage accuses Rupert Lowe of "damaging the party just before elections" following a Daily Mail article in which he described Reform as being a "protest party" led by "the Messiah".[151]
Former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell appears before Edinburgh Sheriff Court charged with embezzlement, while his estranged wife, former Nicola Sturgeon, is told she will face no further action in the police investigation into SNP finances.[152]
22 March – The UK government is reported to be considering establishing "return hubs" for failed asylum seekers in the Balkans.[159]
23 March –
Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirms plans to reduce government running costs by 15% by the end of the decade.[160]
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, dismisses Starmer's plan for an international peacekeeping force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine as "a posture and a pose".[161]
25 March –
The UK government confirms it is ending a contract with Stay Belvedere Hotels to provide places for asylum seekers after an audit identified concerns about the firm's performance.[162]
A report by Jacqueline PerryKC finds "credible evidence" Rupert Lowe and his staff mistreated two female team members in ways that "seem to amount to harassment".[163]
Laurence Fox is charged with a sexual offence after allegedly sharing an intimate image of television star Narinder Kaur without her consent.[164]
BBC News reports that Amanda Spielman, who was chief inspector of Ofsted at the time Ruth Perry committed suicide following a poor Ofsted assessment, has been nominated for a peerage by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.[170]
Three Bolsover District Councillors resign from the Labour Party in protest at Keir Starmer's leadership, and will sit as independents.[171]
30 March –
Downing Street sources tell the BBC the UK would not hesitate to retaliate against US tariffs if required.[172]
Talks are held between the prime minister and US president, which are subsequently described as "constructive".[173]
Jamie Greene, an MSP who left the Scottish Conservatives the previous day, joins the Scottish Liberal Democrats, blaming his decision to leave the Conservative on them becoming "Trump-esque in both style and substance" in an attempt to win the support of right-wing voters.[178] He subsequently says there is "growing disquiet" among former colleagues about the party's direction.[179]
Stephen Hartley, a Reform UK candidate for the local elections to Oxfordshire County Council, is suspended from the party after it was revealed he had posted comments in support of child abuser Jimmy Savile on social media.[180]
Labour MPs Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang say they are "astounded" to have been refused entry to Israel while on a trip to visit the West Bank. Israel say the refusal was because they intended to spread hate speech against Israel.[182]
Downing Street declines calls to officially back a campaign to buy British goods in the wake of the introduction of US trade tariffs, arguing that the UK is "an open-trading nation" and the government is "not going to tell people where they buy their stuff".[184]
The European Court of Human Rights rules that businessman Sir Philip Green's human rights were not breached when he was named in the House of Lords in relation to misconduct allegations in 2018. He was named in Parliament under the rule of Parliamentary privilege, which allows Members of Parliament and peers to speak without the threat of legal repercussions.[185]
The Cabinet Office is to lose a third of its posts as part of government reforms to the civil service, with 2,100 of the 6,500 positions to be cut.[191]
Having previously ruled out an electoral pact with Reform at a national level, when asked by BBC News if the same applies at a local level in relation to the upcoming council elections, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch says that local leaders of her party "would be free to share power" with other parties to keep councils running. Asked a similar question later, Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, appears to reject the idea although he does say that there could be "working relationships" with other parties.[193]
Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse speaks of her "shock" after being refused entry to Hong Kong a few days earlier.[198]
Rail Minister Lord Peter Hendy refers himself to police after admitting he used a mobile phone while driving a vintage double-decker bus through London.[199]
13 April – Bangladeshi authorities investigating corruption in relation to the regime of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina issue an arrest warrant for her niece, MP and former Labour minister Tulip Siddiq.[200]
A report by a committee of MPs into policing during the 2024 riots concludes that the policing response during the riots was "entirely appropriate" given the circumstances, and that there was no evidence to suggest "two-tier policing".[202]
The Scottish Government partially lifts a voluntary pay freeze after 16 years, meaning ministers will receive a £19,000 annual pay rise. Junior ministers will receive a salary of £100,575, while cabinet secretaries will receive £116,125.[203]
Russell Findlay, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, says he will not attend a forthcoming anti-far-right summit being chaired by First Minister of Scotland John Swinney, saying the event is "not required" and is being used to "deflect from the SNP's dismal record".[208]
Russell George withdraws as a Conservative candidate for the 2026 Senedd election after being charged over the general election betting scandal.[214]
23 April – Kemi Badenoch rejects claims of a rift with Conservative frontbencher Robert Jenrick over whether the party should form a coalition with Reform UK after Sky News obtained footage of him speaking about wanting to "unite" the "fight" against Labour at the next general election.[215]
24 April –
Campaign group Hope Not Hate says that Reform UK is fielding local election candidates who have "posted hate, pushed far-right conspiracies and praised extremists" despite statements by Nigel Farage about improving the party's vetting process.[216]
The Senedd Commissioner for Standards finds that Senedd member Siân Gwenllian breached the Senedd's code of conduct after sharing a confidential letter, but recommends no further action is taken against her.[217]
28 April – Martin Dowey temporarily stands down as leader of South Ayrshire Council over a secret recording in which he appears to suggest he can help award contracts to "pals".[219]
29 April – Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman survives an attempt to remove her from the Scottish Parliament's equalities committee following her criticism of the judiciary over the Supreme Court's ruling on biological sex.[220]
30 April – The Parliamentary Commissioner on Standards launches an investigation into Chancellor Rachel Reeves' failure to declare receiving theatre tickets within the required time that MPs must declare gifts.[221]
4 May – Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch tells the BBC it would be wrong to think a change of leader would "fix everything" following the party's heavy local election losses, and that the Conservatives will "come out fighting".[225]
5 May –
Reform UK is forced to clarify that it will continue to fly county standards from council buildings in councils it controls following controversy after chairman Zia Yusuf said the only flags permitted to fly would be the Union Flag and St George's Flag.[226]
Donna Edmunds, elected for Reform UK in Shropshire on 1 May, resigns from the party after she was suspended for tweeting that she intended to defect to another party.[227]
6 May – The UK government says it has no plans to reverse cuts to winter fuel payments despite growing calls from within the Labour Party for it to do so.[228]
8 May –
42 Labour MPs sign a letter calling for changes to proposed cuts to disability benefits.[229]
14 May – The Crown Prosecution Service announces that ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe will not face charges over alleged threats to party chairman Zia Yusuf.[239]
15 May – Lowe, who was suspended from the Reform UK party in March, accuses Farage of running the party like a cult.[240]
17 May – Darren Millar describes Reform UK as a "one-man personality cult" with no serious solution for Wales.[242]
18 May –
Former Conservative cabinet minister Michael Gove tells BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show that he does not believe a second Scottish independence referendum is necessary, but that it could happen if there was "overwhelming support" for one.[243]
David Clews, a conspiracy theorist and far-right influencer, and Mark Collett, a Nazi-sympathiser who set up the far-right Patriotic Alternative, have called for supporters to "infiltrate" Reform UK following its recent success to push their own "pro-white" and anti-immigration agenda.[244]
Conservative Garry Perry resigns as leader of Walsall Council with immediate effect after what he describes as a "campaign of political attrition, deliberate undermining, and personal hostility".[246]
Tameside Council appoints Brenda Warrington, whose involvement in a controversial WhatsApp group led to the suspension of several Labour councillors and MPs, as its standards watchdog.[247]
Charles III addresses the opening session of the 45th Canadian Parliament, and receives a standing ovation from Canadian MPs following a speech in support of Canada staying "strong and free".[255]
Nigel Farage says that a future Reform UK government would introduce generous tax breaks for married couples to make it easier for them to have children, and scrap the two-child benefit cap.[256]
29 May –
The UK government reveals its plans for overhauling pension investment funds to create models similar to those in Australia and Canada; the plans include the creation of £25bn "megafunds" which will be instructed to make a portion of their investments locally to help fuel economic growth.[257]
In a speech attacking Reform policy, Starmer accuses Farage of "fantasy economics" and says his unfunded tax cuts would "crash the economy" like Liz Truss.[258]
Former Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross is ejected from the Scottish Parliament during First Minister's Questions after talking over John Swinney's answer. Ross later questions the neutrality of the decision to eject him.[259]
30 May –
Attorney General Lord Hermer says that he regrets comments made during a speech the previous day in which he suggested calls for the UK to depart from international law were similar to arguments being made in 1930s Germany, and describes the comments as "clumsy".[260]
Nigel Farage announces that Reform UK will begin accepting donations in Bitcoin, becoming the first UK party to do so.[261]
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch announces plans to establish a commission to look at whether the UK should withdraw from some international agreements, such as the European Convention on Human Rights, which she says are binding hands of the UK government.[266]
BBC News reports that opposition to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is growing among MPs, with a number who voted for it or abstained now saying they will vote against it.[269]
Following criticism of her performance at Prime Minister's Questions, Kemi Badenoch says she is "going to get better" as her party's leader, and is not "shy about self-criticism".[270]
Nathaniel Fried tells Politics South East that he resigned as head of Reform UK's Doge effort because the departure of Zia Yusuf left him with "a bit of doubt" about the project's future.[271]
Alexander Walker, the youngest member of Rhyl Town Council, is elected as the town's mayor at the age of 25.[272]
7 June – Zia Yusuf announces he will return to Reform UK two days after resigning, and will run its Doge team.[273]
8 June –
The UK government says it intends to spend £86bn on the science and technology sector by the end of the current parliament.[274]
Reform's deputy leader, Richard Tice, insists the party knows "exactly what it is doing" following Zia Yusuf's departure and return.[275]
Speaking on BBC Scotland's Sunday Show, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accuses the Scottish National Party of running a "dishonest and disgraceful" campaign ahead of the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election by attempting to push voters towards Reform UK, whose candidate came third in the election.[276]
9 June – In a major political U-turn, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves confirms that three quarters of old age pensioners – roughly nine million – will receive winter fuel payments during the coming winter, with pensioners on an annual income of £35,000 or less eligible to receive the benefit.[277]
10 June – Television presenter David Bull is named as Chairman of Reform UK, replacing Zia Yusuf.[278]
12 June – The Data (Use and Access) Bill passes its final reading in the House of Lords and will now become law once it received Royal assent.[279]
17 June – Orkney Islands Council ends its two-year investigation into achieving greater autonomy after a report concluded it would be too difficult and expensive, and instead agrees to look at a single authority model.[282]
19 June – Vicky Foxcroft resigns as a government whip over the UK government's plans to cut disability benefits.[283]
20 June –
The UK government announces an overhaul of local spending that will see the most deprived areas receiving the most money.[284]
The Scottish Government announces that WhatsApp and other non-corporate messaging services will be removed from its official phones.[285]
Kay Mason Billig, the leader of Norfolk County Council, apologises "unreservedly" for posting a picture of a steak dinner on Facebook with the words: "Wonder what all the poor people are doing?"[286]
21 June – An Ipsos poll gives Reform UK its highest poll rating so far, with 34%, nine points ahead of Labour on 25%, and 19 points ahead of the Conservatives on 15%.[287]
22 June – Former Pembrokeshire councillor Andrew Edwards is disqualified from holding public office for four years over a racist voice note he posted on WhatsApp.[288]
23 June – Reform UK announces that it would give people with non-domicile tax status the chance to avoid some UK taxes by paying a £250,000 fee, with the proceeds going to people on the lowest incomes.[289]
Starmer says the government will press ahead with a parliamentary vote on welfare reform on 1 July, despite a growing rebellion among backbench Labour MPs that could see the proposed legislation defeated.[291]
Reform councillor Rob Howard resigns as leader of Warwickshire County Council citing his health, and leaving his 18-year-old deputy, George Finch, as interim leader.[292]
1 July – Reform UK accuses the chief executive of Warwickshire County Council of staging a "coup d'état" after she refused to remove a Progress Pride flag from the county's Shire Hall before the end of Pride Month.[296]
2 July – A report by the Senedd Standards Commission finds that First Minister of Wales Eluned Morgan failed to declare a donation from the Unite union.[297]
4 July – Linden Kemkaran, Reform UK's leader of Kent County Council, attracts criticism over a social media post in which he said transgender-related books would be removed from the county's libraries with immediate effect, and described the decision as a "victory for common sense in Kent".[299]
5 July –
Foreign Secretary David Lammy becomes the first UK minister to visit Syria since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, and meets interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa. The UK government also announces £94.5m of financial support to help the country's recovery.[300]
6 July – BBC News reports that Reform UK would be highly unlikely to introduce an insurance based healthcare system in Wales should it win the 2026 Senedd election, largely because of the timescale and potential legal implications of doing so.[302]
7 July –
David Jones, a former Conservative Secretary of State for Wales who stepped down from Parliament at the 2024 election, announces he is defecting to Reform UK.[303]
Amazon removes a number of AI-generated unofficial biographies of Scotland's first ministers from sale after BBC News alerts them to a significant number of inaccuracies contained within the books.[304]
8 July –
French President Emmanuel Macron begins a three-day state visit to the UK, becoming the first French President to visit the UK since 2008, and the first European leader to do so since Brexit.[305]
MPs vote 415–98 to approve the Football Governance Bill that will establish a regulatory body for the top five tiers of English football.[309]
9 July –
Secretary of State for WalesJo Stevens says public services in Wales will not face cuts despite a shortfall in covering a rise in employers' National Insurance contributions. Her comments follow a warning from Welsh Government Finance Secretary Mark Drakeford, who warned Wales was facing a £36m financial black hole.[310]
MPs approve the amended Universal Credit Bill.[311]
Former Conservative Party Chair and MP Sir Jake Berry announces he is defecting to Reform UK.[312]
Reform UK councillor Mandy Clare is suspended from her job in the office of Sarah Pochin pending a court date.[313]
Bert Bingham, Reform UK's cabinet member for transport and environment at Nottinghamshire County Council, faces criticism after saying that man-made climate change is a "hoax" during a public meeting.[317]
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards launches an investigation into Rupert Lowe over allegations he failed to register money raised in donations to fund his independent "Rape Gang Inquiry".[319] He is subsequently cleared later the same day following a brief investigation.[320]
18-year-old George Finch is installed as permanent leader of the Reform group at Warwickshire County Council.[321]
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz sign the Kensington Treaty during Merz's first official visit to the UK. The treaty includes plans for a direct train link between London and Berlin.[324]
Publication of the Elections Bill, which includes provisions for lowering the age of voting to 16 for the next general election.[325]
Diane Abbott is suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into comments she is alleged to have made about racism.[326]
20 July – Nigel Farage accuses council officials of obstructing the work of Reform UK councillors as he defends the way the party is running some local authorities.[328]
21 July –
Nigel Farage proposes creating 30,000 prison places by sending some UK prisoners overseas to serve their sentences, repatriating foreign prisoners accommodated in UK prisons and building five new prisons. He also proposes recruiting a further 30,000 police officers.[329]
23 July – The Scottish Greens are forced to issue a new list of candidates for the next Holyrood election after an error was found in counting the votes.[334]
Former SNP MP Mhairi Black announces that she has left the party, citing its stance over transgender rights and Palestine as her main reasons for doing so.[337]
Starmer announces the UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza". Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, says in response that to do so "rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism". Ghazi Hamad of Hamas welcomes the announcement as "one of the fruits of October 7".[339][340]
Trump completes his four-day visit to Scotland and returns to the United States.[341]
31 July – James Orr, chairman of the pro-Reform UK think tank, the Centre for a Better Britain, tells the Today programme an incoming Reform government would have to do some "very unpopular" things in its first 100 days in office and force "nasty cough medicine down the country's throat" but that if "Reform ends up governing the country, we should all want them to succeed".[345]
August
1 August –
The UK government plans to restrict civil service internships to graduates from "lower socio-economic backgrounds", judged by what jobs their parents did when they were 14, in an attempt to make the civil service more working class.[346]
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner gives China two weeks to explain why parts of its plans for a new embassy in London are blanked out.[355]
Rushanara Ali resigns as homelessness minister following criticism about the way she handled a rent increase on a property she owns.[356]
8 August –
Starmer describes Israel's plans to take full military control of Gaza City as "wrong" and says they "will only bring more bloodshed".[357]
Foreign Secretary David Lammy meets US Vice President JD Vance for talks at his official residence, Chevening House, where they discuss the UK's plans to recognise a Palestinian state.[358]
9 August – Lammy and Vance host a meeting of security officials near London to discuss the war in Ukraine.[359]
Afzal Khan resigns as the UK's trade envoy to Turkey following criticism over a trip to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not recognised as a state by the UK government.[361]
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage writes to the prime minister requesting that he allow him to appoint Reform UK members to the House of Lords.[362]
James Harding, the BBC's former director of news, says the broadcaster should be protected from "political interference" following comments by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy earlier in the year,, when she appeared to call for the resignation of director-general Tim Davie.[364]
Former Conservative MP Sarah Atherton leaves the party, describing it as "impotent" and something that "no longer aligns" with her "values or ideology", and announces plans to stand in the 2026 Senedd election.[365]
23 August – Nigel Farage tells The Times that a Reform government would introduce an Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill that would cost the UK £10bn to implement.[368]
25 August – Richard Tice, Reform UK's energy spokesman, says the party would look at the potential of fracking if in government.[369]
26 August –
Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips tells BBC News that the screening tool used to decide which domestic abuse victims get urgent support "doesn't work".[370]
Nigel Farage announces that Reform UK would proclude anyone arriving into the UK by illegal means from claiming asylum, with plans to deport 600,000 people over five years.[371]
Farage says that in order to deport 600,000 asylum seekers, a government headed by his party would leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which may require a renegotiation of the terms of the Good Friday Agreement which has the ECHR written into it.[372]
27 August –
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair joins a White House meeting with US President Donald Trump to discuss post-war Gaza.[373]
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey announces he will boycott the banquet for Donald Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom in order to "send a message" over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.[374]
Farage rules out deporting children as part of Reform's deportation policy.[376]
28 August –
Starmer is to replace his principal private secretary, Nin Pandit, after ten months in the role. She follows the departures of chief of staff, Sue Gray, in October 2024 and director of communications, Matthew Doyle, in March, as the third Starmer-appointed senior staff member to be let go by him in less than a year.[377]
The UK, France and Germany begin the process of restoring UN sanctions against Iran following tension over its nuclear programme.[378]
MSP Colin Smyth has his Holyrood pass deactivated following allegations he placed a camera in a Scottish Parliament toilet.[379]
Reform UK's Mick Barton, the leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, has banned journalists from the Nottingham Post and its online version, Nottingham Live, from speaking to him or any of his councillors following a dispute over a story the newspaper printed about reorganising local government.[380] A few days later Barton says that his councillors are not banned from speaking to journalists from the newspaper.[381]
29 August –
The UK government says that an Israeli delegation will not be invited to a global defence exhibition in London in September because of the Gaza war.[382]
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch says her party would remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling in the North Sea if they win the next general election.[384]
Derek Thomson is suspended as Secretary-General of the Scottish branch of Unite the union pending an internal investigation.[385]
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney announces a pause of public money from the Scottish Government to arms companies supplying weapons to Israel.[390]
Addressing a US congressional committee, Nigel Farage urges US politicians and businesses to oppose what he feels is the UK government's stance on freedom of speech.[391]
Warwickshire County Council's Reform cabinet votes to strip the chief executive of responsibility for deciding what flags can be flown outside its building, handing it to the council chairman.[395]
Nigel Farage makes his keynote speech to the Reform UK annual conference, telling delegates they must prepare for an early election following Rayner's resignation.[399]
Members of the public are temporarily banned from the chamber of the House of Commons after a mobile phone was found hidden there during a security search.[400]
8 September –
The UK government outlines a new defence industrial strategy with £250m of investment in five local economies with a view to creating jobs and fuel growth.[401]
Kevin Stewart, a former Scottish Government minister and the MSP for Aberdeen Central, announces he will stand down from Holyrood at the 2026 election on health grounds.[402]
9 September –
A message from Peter Mandelson, the UK's ambassador to the United States, is included in a "birthday book" of messages to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein released by the US Congress.[403]
Bridget Phillipson, Lucy Powell and Bell Ribeiro-Addy are the three Labour MPs with the most nominations for the Labour Party deputy leadership contest; they must reach 80 nominations to enter the contest.[404]
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney meets US President Donald Trump at the White House, where they have what are described as "constructive discussions" about tariffs on the import of scotch whisky to the United States.[405]
Alison McGovern drops out of the Labour Party deputy leadership contest and gives her support to Bridget Phillipson.[409]
An investigation by the Senedd's Standards Commissioner concludes that Reform UK's Laura Anne Jones broke the rules by using a racial slur to describe Chinese people, but clears her of making fraudulent expenses claims.[410]
11 September –
Peter Mandelson is sacked from the post of UK Ambassador to the United States following revelations about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.[411]
In a since deleted social media post, Blackpool councillor Jim O'Neill, who defected from the Conservatives to Reform UK, says that Reform have let too many Conservative "rejects" in.[422]
Manchester Metropolitan University strips Peter Mandelson of the honorary doctorate given to him upon his appointment as Chancellor in 2016, and the commemorative medal given to him at the end of his tenure in 2024.[423]
15 September –
Paul Ovenden resigns as a senior aide to the prime minister after sexually explicit and offensive text messages sent by him in 2017 and concerning MP Diane Abbott came to light.[424]
Former Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions Danny Kruger leaves the Conservative Party to join Reform UK.[425]
16 September –
US President Donald Trump arrives in the UK for his second state visit.[426]
Labour MPs Simon Opher and Peter Prinsley, who were part of a parliamentary delegation visiting the West Bank to see humanitarian and medical work, say they have been refused entry into Israel.[427]
Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch begins presenting a monthly phone-in on LBC.[428]
A police investigation into claims former Conservative MP Mark Menzies misused donors' money to pay "bad people" is dropped after he agreed to repay the money.[429]
Former Conservative minister Maria Caulfield, who lost her seat at the last election, joins Reform UK.[430]
Mark McEwan steps down as Standards Commissioner at Stormont a week after his appointment to take up the post of Deputy Chief Constable of Surrey Police.[431]
John Allen, a councillor on Northumberland County Council, is suspended from Reform UK following allegations he made online threats to kill the prime minister.[437]
Chancellor Rachel Reeves accuses "hostile states like Russia" of being behind a series of recent cyberattacks in the UK.[445]
Reform UK announces it will abolish the right of migrants to qualify for permanent settlement in the UK after five years if it wins the next election.[446]
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