2023 In The United Kingdom

Events from the year 2023 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

* Monarch – Charles III
* Prime Minister – Rishi Sunak ( Conservative)
* Parliament – 58th

Events

January

* 1 January – A visit by Thor the Walrus to Scarborough harbour, North Yorkshire overnight on New Years Eve results in the town's New Year fireworks celebrations being cancelled to let the walrus rest for his journey to the Arctic. He was previously spotted at Pagham Harbour, Calshot, Hampshire in December 2022.
* 2 January
** Three people are killed after a fire breaks out at the New County Hotel in Perth, Scotland.
** Thor the Walrus makes an appearance in Blyth, Northumberland.
* 3 January – 40,000 railway workers who are members of the RMT union hold the first of two 48-hour strikes this week, severely disrupting train services in England, Scotland, and Wales.
* 5 January
** The government confirms it will not go ahead with a plan to privatise Channel 4.
** The Met Office confirms that 2022 was the UK's warmest year since records began in 1884, with an average annual temperature above for the first time.
** BioNTech announces a strategic partnership with the UK government to provide up to 10,000 patients with personalised mRNA cancer immunotherapies by 2030.
* 6 January – COVID-19 in the UK: Almost three million people were infected with COVID-19 over the Christmas period (the highest since July 2022), the latest Office for National Statistics data suggests, with one in 20 having the virus in England, one in 18 in Wales, one in 25 in Scotland and one in 16 in Northern Ireland. XBB.1.5, the new Omicron variant of the virus, is believed to be responsible for one in 200 infections in the UK.
* 8 January – ITV1 broadcasts a 95-minute interview with Prince Harry ahead of the release of his memoirs, '' Spare''.
* 10 January
** The UK government publishes the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill 2023, designed to require public sector organisations to provide a minimum service when their unions vote to strike.
** Prince Harry's controversial memoir '' Spare'' is released, becoming "the fastest selling non-fiction book of all time" on the date of its release.
*11 January – Andrew Bridgen has the whip suspended by the Conservative Party after he spread misinformation about COVID-19 and compared vaccination to the Holocaust.
* 12 January – Heavy rain and strong winds cause floods and travel disruption in parts of the UK, with over 60 flood warnings issued in England, 19 in Wales and 2 in Scotland.
* 13 January
** Figures indicate the UK economy unexpectedly grew by 0.1% in November 2022, potentially avoiding a long recession.
** Medical experts criticise the BBC for an interview with Aseem Malhotra who claims that mRNA vaccines may have been responsible for thousands of excess deaths.
** Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy is cleared on six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against four young women, but faces a retrial on two counts the jury could not reach verdicts on.
** COVID-19 in the UK: The latest Office for National Statistics data indicates COVID-19 cases were falling in England and Wales in the week up to 30 December 2022, with cases continuing to increase in Scotland; the picture was unclear for Northern Ireland. In England, an estimated 2,189,300 people were thought to have tested positive for COVID-19.
* 14 January
** Four women and two children are injured in a drive-by mass shooting close to a Catholic church in Euston Road, Euston, Central London. A 22-year-old man is arrested two days later on suspicion of attempted murder.
** Amid recent heavy rain, more than 100 flood warnings by the Environment Agency remain in place across the country, with hundreds of homes damaged and many left without power.
** Rishi Sunak confirms that the UK will send 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to boost its war effort.
* 16 January
**Serving Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick admits over 40 offences including more than 20 rapes against 12 women over two decades.
**The National Education Union announces that teachers in England and Wales will strike on seven dates during February and March after members voted in favour of strike action. National strikes will be held on 1 and 15 February, and 15 March, as well as four days of regional strikes.
**The UK government announces it will block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, the first time that the UK government has used powers to block a Scottish law. UK ministers say the draft law would "conflict with equality protections applying across Great Britain".
**The Royal College of Nursing announces a further two nurses' strikes for 6 and 7 February, described as the biggest so far.
**MPs vote 309–249 in favour of the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill 2023, which now moves to the committee stage.
* 18 January
**The ONS reports that inflation dropped for the second month running, to 10.5% in December, from 10.7% the previous month. At the two extremes of the ONS's list of "notable movements" that contribute to the overall figure, 'clothing and footwear' price inflation dropped from 7.5% to 6.4%, 'furniture and household goods' dropped from 10.8% to 9.8%, 'food and non-alcoholic beverages' rose from 16.5% to 16.9%, and 'restaurants and hotels' rose from 10.2% to 11.4%.
** BBC News reports that Church of England bishops will not give their backing to a change in teaching that would allow them to marry same-sex couples, but the Church will offer "prayers of dedication, thanksgiving or God's blessing" to gay couples.
* 19 January – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologises for taking his seat belt off in a moving car to film a social media clip. Lancashire Police later say they are "looking into" the incident. He is issued with a fixed-penalty notice the following day.
* 20 January
**The Church of England issues an apology for the "shameful" times it has "rejected or excluded" LGBTQ+ people, while Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says he supports the changes that allow blessings to be offered to gay couples, but says he will not personally use them because he has a "responsibility to the whole communion".
**The High Court awards £39m in damages against Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust in Surrey to a girl whose limbs were amputated after she was wrongly diagnosed.
**COVID-19 in the UK: ONS data for the week up to 10 January indicates that COVID-19 infections have continued to fall in England and Wales, with one in 40 people (an estimated 2.6% of the population) testing positive for the virus.
* 22 January – Labour's chairwoman, Anneliese Dodds writes to Daniel Greenberg, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, requesting "an urgent investigation" into claims that Richard Sharp, the Chairman of the BBC, helped former Prime Minister Boris Johnson secure a loan guarantee weeks before Johnson recommended him for the BBC chairmanship.
* 23 January
**Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asks his Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests to investigate allegations that, during his time as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Conservative Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi paid a penalty to HM Revenue and Customs in relation to previously unpaid tax.
** William Shawcross, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, begins a review into the process of hiring Chairman of the BBC Richard Sharp following allegations he helped then-PM Boris Johnson secure a loan guarantee shortly before his appointment. Johnson dismisses the claims, saying Sharp had no knowledge of his finances. Sharp says that although he contacted Cabinet Secretary Simon Case in December 2020 about the offer of a loan to Johnson, he was not involved in discussions.
** National Grid's Demand Flexibility Service begins in an attempt to avoid a power blackout. Between 5:00pm and 6:00pm, people in England, Scotland and Wales who have signed up to the scheme are asked to use less electricity, and will be paid by their energy companies for doing so.
* 25 January – The first ever strike by UK employees of Amazon is held. 300 staff at a Coventry warehouse stage a one-day walk out, in a dispute over pay and conditions.
* 26 January – Nicola Sturgeon confirms that Isla Bryson, a trans woman recently convicted of raping two women before her transition, has been moved from Cornton Vale women’s prison to HMP Edinburgh men’s prison, sparking debate about the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill.
* 28 January
**Airline Flybe cancels all flights to and from the UK after going into administration.
** Charity Super.Mkt, billed as the UK's first multi-charity store and selling items supplied by ten charities, opens at London's Brent Cross Shopping Centre.
* 29 January
**Conservative Party Chairman Nadhim Zahawi is sacked by Rishi Sunak over "a serious breach of the Ministerial Code" relating to the investigation into his tax affairs, conducted on 23 January.
**The Scottish Prison Service pauses the movement of all transgender prisoners while it carries out an "urgent review" into the transgender cases held in its custody.
* 30 January
**William Shawcross, the commissioner for public appointments, steps back from the planned investigation into how Richard Sharp got the job as BBC chairman because of previous contact between them. Another investigator will be appointed to take on the inquiry.
**Members of the Fire Brigades Union have voted to take strike action over pay.

Predicted and scheduled events

* 9 February – 2023 West Lancashire by-election
* 15 March – Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt is scheduled to deliver the 2023 budget to the House of Commons.
* 4 May – 2023 United Kingdom local elections
* 6 May – Coronation of Charles III and Camilla in Westminster Abbey, London.
* 13 May – Eurovision Song Contest 2023 at the Liverpool Arena
* 18 May – 2023 Northern Ireland local elections
* 20 July – 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. England are to compete.
* 8 September – 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. England, Wales and Scotland are to compete.
* October – 2023 Cricket World Cup in India. England are to compete.

Deaths

The following notable deaths of British people occurred in 2023. Names are reported under the date of death, in alphabetical order. A typical entry reports information in the following sequence:
* Name, age, citizenship at birth, nationality (in addition to British), or/and home nation, what subject was noted for, birth year, cause of death (if known), and reference.

January

* 1 January – Frank McGarvey, Scottish footballer ( St Mirren, Celtic, national team) (b. 1956), pancreatic cancer.
* 2 January – Andrew Downes, 72, English classical composer.
* 3 January
** Roger Kean, British magazine publisher ('' Crash'', '' Zzap!64''), co-founder of Newsfield.
** Alan Rankine, 64, Scottish musician ( The Associates) (b. 1958) (death announced on this date)
* 4 January – Wyllie Longmore, 82, Jamanican-born British actor (''Coronation Street'', '' Love Actually''), cancer.
* 5 January
** Thomas Stonor, 7th Baron Camoys, 82, British banker and peer, lord chamberlain (1998–2000).
** David Gold, 86, British retailer, publisher (Gold Star Publications), and football executive, chairman of West Ham United (since 2010).
** Fay Weldon, 91, British author ('' The Life and Loves of a She-Devil'', '' Puffball'', ''The Cloning of Joanna May''), essayist and playwright.
* 7 January – Ken Scotland, 86, Scottish rugby union player (Leicester Tigers, national team) and cricketer ( national team), cancer.
* 8 January – Ray Middleton, 86, British Olympic racewalker (1964), respiratory failure.
* 9 January – David Duckham, 76, English rugby union player ( Coventry, national team).
* 10 January – Jeff Beck, 78, English rock guitarist ( The Yardbirds, The Jeff Beck Group, Beck, Bogert & Appice), bacterial meningitis.
* 11 January
** Piers Haggard, 83, British film and television director ('' Pennies from Heaven'', ''Quatermass'', ''The Blood on Satan's Claw'', ''The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu'').
** Eli Ostreicher, 39, British-born American serial entrepreneur, motorcycle accident in Thailand.
* 12 January
** Paul Johnson, 94, British journalist, historian and author ('' Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the 1980s'', ''A History of the American People'', '' A History of Christianity'').
** Roy Pierpoint, 93, British racing driver, saloon car champion (1965).
* 13 January – Marc Worth, 61, British fashion executive, co-founder of WGSN, heart attack.
* 14 January
** Alireza Akbari, 61, Iranian-British politician and convicted spy, execution by hanging. (death announced on this date)
** Ronald Blythe, 100, English writer and columnist ('' Church Times'').
** John Wickham, 73, British motor racing team owner (Spirit Racing).
* 15 January – Bruce Gowers, 82, British television director ('' American Idol'') and music video director (" Bohemian Rhapsody"), complications from acute respiratory infection.
* 16 January
** John Bicourt, 77, British Olympic middle-distance runner (1972, 1976). (death announced on this date)
** Brian Tufano, 83, English cinematographer (''Trainspotting'', '' A Life Less Ordinary'', '' Billy Elliot'').
* 17 January – Jonathan Raban, 80, British travel writer, critic, and novelist (''Soft City'', '' Waxwings'', '' For Love & Money'').
* 19 January
** David Sutherland, 89, Scottish illustrator and comics artist ('' The Beano'', ''Dennis the Menace and Gnasher'', '' The Bash Street Kids'').
** Peter Thomas, 78, English-Irish footballer ( Waterford, Ireland national team).
** Anton Walkes, 25, English footballer ( Portsmouth, Atlanta United, Charlotte FC), boat crash.
* 22 January – Ian Black, 69, British journalist ('' The Guardian''), and author ('' Israel's Secret Wars''), complications from frontotemporal lobar degeneration.
*23 January – Fred Lindop, 84, British rugby league referee.
*27 January – Sylvia Syms, 89, English actress ('' Peak Practice'', ''EastEnders'').

See also

* Politics in the United Kingdom
* 2020s in United Kingdom political history
* 2023 in United Kingdom politics and government
* 2023 in British music
* 2023 in British television
* List of British films of 2023

References

{{Years in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom
United Kingdom
Years of the 21st century in the United Kingdom