2013 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 2013 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch – Elizabeth II
*Prime Minister – David Cameron (Coalition)
*Parliament – 55th

Events

January

*1 January – the United Kingdom assumes presidency of G8 group. Next G8 summit is to be held on the shores of Lough Erne, County Fermanagh in June 2013.
*4 January – Mark Cahill, a 51-year-old former pub landlord from West Yorkshire becomes the first person in the UK to receive a hand transplant.
*10 January – April Casburn, a senior detective with the Metropolitan Police is found guilty of trying to sell information on the investigation into phone hacking to the '' News of the World'', the newspaper at the centre of the scandal. On 1 February she is jailed for fifteen months.
*11 January – publication of the '' Giving Victims a Voice'' report, initiated as a result of publicity surrounding the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal.
*16 January – a helicopter crash in central London kills two people and injures 13 others.
*19 January – an avalanche at Glencoe in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, kills four people.
*22 January – a death sentence handed to British citizen Lindsay Sandiford by an Indonesian court for drug smuggling is condemned by the UK government.
*28 January – Government plans to redraw constituency boundaries before the next general election are defeated in the House of Commons by 334 to 292.
*30 January – Tony McCluskie is found guilty of the March 2012 murder of his sister, the actress Gemma McCluskie and jailed for life with a recommendation he serve a minimum term of 20 years.

February

*4 February – former government Minister Chris Huhne pleads guilty to perverting the course of justice over claims he caused his ex-wife to accept speeding points he had incurred. He also announces his intention to resign his House of Commons seat.
*5 February – the House of Commons votes 400 to 175 in favour of a vote on the bill to legalise same-sex marriage in England and Wales.
*7 February – Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove confirms that plans to replace the General Certificate of Secondary Education with a new English Baccalaureate qualification have been abandoned.
*23 February – UK loses top AAA credit rating for first time since 1978 after being downgraded by the ratings agency Moody's.
*25 February – Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, resigns as the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh due to allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards priests in the 1980s.
*27 February – Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia is appointed apostolic administrator of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh following the resignation of Cardinal Keith O'Brien.
*28 February – the Eastleigh by-election, triggered by the resignation of Chris Huhne, sees the Liberal Democrats hold the seat despite a UKIP surge that pushes the Conservatives into third place.

March

*4 March
** Queen Elizabeth II is admitted to hospital for observation after experiencing symptoms of gastroenteritis. Buckingham Palace have described it as a "precaution". She is discharged the following day.
** Psychiatric patient Nicola Edgington, who stabbed a woman to death six years after killing her mother is jailed for life with a minimum of 37 years.
*7 March
** Foreign Secretary William Hague announces the UK will send armoured vehicles and body armour to opposition forces in Syria to help save lives.
**The Office of Fair Trading gives the leading 50 companies providing payday loans in the United Kingdom 12 weeks to change their practices after identifying "widespread irresponsible lending".
** Mid Ulster by-election results in Sinn Féin retaining the seat vacated by Martin McGuinness
**Vicky Pryce, ex-wife of former Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne, is convicted of perverting the course of justice after accepting speeding penalty points on Huhne's behalf.
**Closure of Daw Mill colliery following a major fire, the last mine in the Warwickshire Coalfield.
*11 March – Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce are each jailed for eight months for perverting the course of justice.
*14 March
**Prime Minister David Cameron says talks between himself and the leaders of the UK's other main political parties on the recommendations of the Leveson report have broken down and that he intends to publish a Royal Charter on press regulation.
** Labour Party peer Lord Ahmed is suspended from the party after claiming a conspiracy by Jewish-owned media organisations was responsible for his imprisonment for dangerous driving.
*16 March
**Lance Corporal James Ashworth, who died in southern Afghanistan in 2012 while protecting his colleagues from a grenade blast is to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
**62 people are arrested by Warwickshire Police following civil unrest in Nuneaton town centre ahead of a football match between Nuneaton Town and Lincoln City.
*18 March – the final BBC
...