2000 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 2000 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch – Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister – Tony Blair ( Labour)
*Parliament – 52nd

Events

January

* Japanese carmaker Nissan adds a third model to its factory near Sunderland: the new generation of the Almera hatchback and saloon which goes on sale in March.
* 1 January – Millennium celebrations take place throughout the UK. The Millennium Dome in London is officially opened by HM The Queen.
* 4 January – Catherine Hartley and Fiona Thornewill become the first British women to reach the South Pole.
* 10 January – Tony Blair's wife, Cherie, is fined for not having a valid train ticket with her on a journey from Blackfriars to Luton. She claims to have had only Portuguese currency with her at the time and to have been unable to find a machine where she could use her credit card.
* 11 January – A Scottish trawler, the '' Solway Harvester'', sinks in the Irish Sea, killing seven sailors.
* 12 January – Indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet: It is announced that former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet, is to be deported after the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, accepts "unequivocal and unanimous" medical evidence that Pinochet is unfit to stand trial in Spain on charges of torture.
*22 January – The Rugby league 2000 World Club Challenge is won by Melbourne Storm who defeat St. Helens 44 – 6 at the JJB Stadium in Wigan.
* 28 January – The Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, Nigel Jones, is attacked at his constituency surgery by a madman with a samurai sword. Andrew Pennington, a councillor, comes to Jones's defence but is stabbed nine times and dies later aged 39.
* 31 January – Dr. Harold Shipman is sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of murdering fifteen patients in Greater Manchester between 1995 and 1998. He is also sentenced to four years in prison, to run concurrently, for forging the will of one of his victims. The subsequent enquiry considers him to have killed at least 215.

February

* 3 February – At the Ceredigion by-election, Simon Thomas holds the seat for Plaid Cymru.
* 10 February
** A group of hijackers hijacked an Ariana plane and forced the plane to travel overseas, to the United Kingdom. The plane landed at London Stansted airport and the hijackers surrendered to authorities there.
* 11 February
** The Royal Bank of Scotland succeeds in the hostile takeover battle for its larger English rival, NatWest Bank, successfully defeating a rival offer made by the Bank of Scotland.
** Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended
* 15 February – Waterhouse report into the North Wales child abuse scandal published.
* 25 February – Murder of Victoria Climbié (aged 8) in London after torture and neglect by her guardians, her aunt Marie Therese Kouao and Kouao's partner Carl Manning; local authority social services departments will be severely criticised for their shortcomings in the case.
* 28 February – The chief of British Nuclear Fuels resigns over a safety scandal at Sellafield.

March

* 2 March – Indictment and arrest of Augusto Pinochet: The UK deports Augusto Pinochet to his native Chile where he will face trial for human rights violations.
* 14 March – All stores of furniture retailer World of Leather and its parent Uno plc close.
* 15 March – BMW announces plans to sell the Rover Group, with London-based Alchemy consortium emerging as favourites for a takeover.
* 25 March – David Trimble wins the leadership election of the Ulster Unionist Party.
* 31 March – Myra Hindley, who has spent 34 years in prison for her role in the Moors murders, loses a third High Court appeal against a Home Office ruling that her life sentence should mean life.

April

* April – The Ministry of Defence publishes a booklet ''Soldiering – The Military Covenant'' which introduces the term into public discourse referring to the mutual obligations between the nation and its armed forces.
* 1 April
** An Enigma machine is stolen from Bletchley Park Museum.
** Section 27 of the Access to Justice Act 1999 comes into force allowing recovery of fees from the losing party in civil actions, extending the availability of conditional fee arrangements.
* 3 April – The Immigration and Asylum Act means that all asylum seekers in England and Wales will now receive vouchers to cover the cost of food and clothing.
* 4 April – Charlie Kray, one of the infamous Kray brothers, dies in a hospital on the Isle of Wight after suffering a heart attack in Parkhurst Prison at age 73.
* 12 April – The Royal Ulster Constabulary is presented with the George Cross by The Queen.
* 14 April
** Kenneth Noye, the so-called "M25 killer", is sentenced to life imprisonment.
** '' Clark v University of Lincolnshire and Humberside'' decided in the Supreme Court determining that actions by universities established by statute are subject to judicial review, though the courts will not adjudicate on questions of academic judgment.
* 19 April – Tony Martin is sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a sixteen-year-old burglar, Fred Barras, he shot dead at his Norfolk farmhouse eight months ago; he is also convicted of the attempted murder of Brendon Fearon, the burglar wounded when Martin opened fire.
* 29 April – At Murrayfield Stadium, the 2000 Challenge Cup rugby league tournament culminates in the Bradford Bulls' 24 – 18 win in the final against the Leeds Rhinos.

May

* 1 May – May Day riot in Central London by anti-capitalist protestors. The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square and the Cenotaph in Whitehall are daubed with graffiti.
* 3 May – The London Stock Exchange and Germany's Deutsche Börse announce plans to amalgamate.
* 4 May – London mayoral election: Ken Livingstone, standing as an independent, becomes the first directly elected Mayor of London defeating Steve Norris, the Conservative Party candidate in second place; and Frank Dobson, the Labour Party candidate in third place.
* 4 May – At the Romsey by-election following the death of Conservative MP Michael Colvin, the Liberal Democrat candidate Sandra Gidley wins the seat.
* 9 May – BMW sells the bulk of the Rover Group (the Rover and MG marques) to the Phoenix Consortium, while it retains the rights to the Mini marque and sells Land Rover to Ford.
* 11 May – Introduction of services on Croydon Tramlink, the first trams in London_since_1952.
*_12_May
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