2020s in United Kingdom political history

Boris Johnson won a landslide majority in the 2019 general election.[1] In late January 2020, the United Kingdom officially left the European Union.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic spread to the United Kingdom in late January 2020. As of 7 June 2020 there have been 286,194 confirmed cases[nb 1] and 40,542 confirmed deaths overall,[nb 2] the world's second-highest death-rate per capita.[2] There were 48,813 deaths where the death certificate mentioned COVID-19 by 22 May (see Statistics).[3] More than 90% of those dying had underlying illnesses or were over 60 years old. The infection rate is higher in care homes than in the community, which is inflating the overall infection rate. There is large regional variation in the outbreak's severity. In March, London had the highest number of infections[4] while North East England has the highest infection rate.[5] England is the country of the UK with the highest recorded death rate per capita, while Northern Ireland has the lowest. Healthcare in the UK is devolved to each country.

The Department of Health and Social Care launched a public health information campaign to help slow the virus's spread, and began posting daily updates in early February. In February, the Heath Secretary, Matt Hancock, introduced the Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2020 for England, and hospitals set up drive-through screening. The Chief Medical Officer for England, Chris Whitty, outlined a four-pronged strategy to tackle the outbreak: contain, delay, research and mitigate.

In March, the UK government imposed a lockdown, banning all "non-essential" travel and contact with people outside one's home (including family and partners), and shutting almost all schools and other educational institutions, shops selling nonessential goods, venues, facilities, amenities and places of worship. Those with symptoms, and their household, were told to self-isolate, while the most vulnerable (the over 70s and those with certain illnesses) were told to shield themselves. People were made to keep apart in public. Police were empowered to enforce the lockdown, and the Coronavirus Act 2020 gave the government emergency powers[6] not used since the Second World War.[7][8] Panic buying was reported.

In May 2020, protests spread across the United Kingdom following the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, by police officers while under arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May 2020. Immediately following his death, protests and riots broke out in dozens of cities across the United States. These spread internationally for the first time on 28 May, with a solidarity demonstration outside the United States Embassy in London.

Protests spread across the United Kingdom, particularly in London, Birmingham and Manchester. Many protests have been organised by the Black Lives Matter and Stand Up to Racism movements. As well as providing solidarity to protests in the United States, many of the ongoing protests in the United Kingdom are highlighting issues with racism faced from law enforcement in the United Kingdom and in daily life.

Many protests have received endorsement and support from local councils and politicians, including in Liverpool and Oxford. The majority of protests in the United Kingdom have been peaceful, although notable clashes between protesters and police have occurred on multiple occasions in central London. Confrontations between police and protesters included a group spraying "ACAB" on the memorial to Earl Haig; when soldiers from the Household Cavalry in plain clothes scrubbed the graffiti off, protesters criticised them for doing so.[9] Protesters sprayed graffiti on the plinth of the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square calling him a racist.[10] A statue of 17th-century slave trader Edward Colston was toppled from its pedestal in The Centre, Bristol and thrown into Bristol Harbour on 7 June.[11]

In January 2020, The United Kingdom and Gibraltar left the European Union,[12] beginning an 11-month transition period, during which they remain in the Single Market and Customs Union.[13]

In December 2019, the World Meteorological Organization released its annual climate report revealing that climate impacts are worsening.[14] They found the global sea temperatures are rising as well as land temperatures worldwide. 2019 is the last year in a decade that is the warmest on record.[15]

Global carbon emissions hit a record high in 2019, even though the rate of increase slowed somewhat, according to a report from Global Carbon Project.[16]

As both Labour's leader (Jeremy Corbyn) and deputy leader (Tom Watson) had resigned or announced their intention to do so in late 2019,[17][18] the party had both a leadership and deputy leadership contest in early 2020.[19] The leadership contest was won by Shadow secretary of state for exiting the European Union Keir Starmer with 275,780 votes (56.2% of the vote share).[20] Angela Rayner became the deputy leader, achieving 192,168 first preference votes (41.7% of the vote share) and winning a majority on the second preference votes of weaker candidates.[21]

As their leader (Jo Swinson) lost her seat at the 2019 general election, the liberal democrats announced early in 2020 that they planned to have new leader in place by the middle of July that year.[22] The contest was later suspended to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, until then MP Sir Ed Davey and the party's president Mark Pack will remain it's acting leadership.[23]

The London mayoral election originally due to take place in May 2020 was suspended for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[24]

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.[25]

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