2019 in United Kingdom politics and government

See also: 2019 in politics and government and 2019 in the United Kingdom

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Events

January

• 7 January – A 10-year plan for NHS England is unveiled. As a result of Barnett consequentials, a proportionate share of extra funding will be transferred to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive.[1]
• 8 January – MPs back an amendment to the Finance Bill, by 303 to 296 votes, to limit the Treasury's powers in a no-deal Brexit scenario.[2]
• 9 January – MPs back Dominic Grieve's amendment to the EU withdrawal agreement, by 308 to 297 votes, compelling the government to return to Parliament within three days if the deal is voted down the following week.[3]
• 14 January – Conservative Party whip Gareth Johnson resigns, saying he cannot support the government in the forthcoming vote on Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement.[4]
• 15 January – The House of Commons rejects Theresa May's deal on the UK's withdrawal from the European Union by 432 votes to 202.[5] The 230 vote margin is the largest defeat for a government motion in 100 years.[6]
• 16 January – Theresa May's government survives a no confidence vote by 325 to 306.[7]

February

• 13 February
  • At Warsaw Summit, Jeremy Hunt seeks international support for a cease-fire in Yemen.[8]

November

• 1 November – Following a report from the Oil and Gas Authority, the government calls a halt to all fracking in the UK "with immediate effect"[9] and warns shale gas companies that it will not support future projects.[10]
• 3 November – Conservative MP Ross Thomson announces he will not stand at the next election following an accusation that he sexually assaulted Labour MP Paul Sweeney.[11]
• 4 November
  • The UK terrorism threat level is reduced from "severe" to "substantial" for the first time since 2014.[12]
  • Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Member of Parliament for Chorley, is elected Speaker of the House, replacing John Bercow who stepped down after 10 years in the role.[13]
  • 18 female members of Parliament of the United Kingdom say they will not seek reelection due to threats and abuse.[14]
• 5 November – Mothercare collapses into administration, putting 2,500 UK jobs at risk.[15]
• 6 November
  • At 00:01, the 57th parliament is dissolved in preparation for the general election on 12 December 2019.[16]
  • Extinction Rebellion wins a High Court challenge against the Metropolitan Police over a London-wide ban on protests that came into force on 14 October.[17]
  • Alun Cairns resigns as Secretary of State for Wales over allegations that he was aware of the role of a former aide in the "sabotage" of a rape trial.[18]
  • Labour's Tom Watson announces he will step down as an MP at the 2019 election, and vacate his post as deputy leader of Labour for personal reasons.[19]
• 7 November – The Times reports that Downing Street is suspected by unnamed sources of suppressing a parliamentary report into Russian interference because it contains "embarrassing" disclosures about the Kremlin links of wealthy Russian donors to the Conservative Party.[20]
• 19 November – Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn appear on ITV in a head-to-head election debate.[21] The Conservatives attract controversy as CCHQ's press office alters the brand and imagery of their Twitter profile (@CCHQPress) during the live broadcast so it appears as "factcheckUK", and posts pro-Conservative responses attacking Corbyn.[22][23][21] Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly defends it as "calling out when the Labour Party put what they know to be complete fabrications in the public domain".[21] The Electional Commission calls on all campaigners to act "responsibly",[24] fact-checking body Full Fact criticises this behaviour as "inappropriate and misleading", and a spokesperson from Twitter says that they would take "decisive corrective action" if there were "further attempts to mislead people".[21][25][26]

December

• 12 December – In the general election, the Conservative Party, led by Boris Johnson, achieves a majority of 80 seats in the House of Commons, while the Labour Party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, suffers major losses resulting in their lowest proportion of seats since 1935.[27][28] The Scottish National Party wins a landslide in Scotland, winning 48 of the 59 seats.[29]
• 13 December – Jo Swinson resigns as Leader of the Liberal Democrats after losing her constituency seat to the Scottish National Party.[30] Jeremy Corbyn says he will not lead Labour into a future general election.[31]

History by issue

Note: This section is provided for issue-based overviews in narrative format, if desired.

Climate change

In April 2019, Extinction Rebellion's "International Rebellion" closed multiple London streets in protests over climate change with 1130 arrests,[32] and in October further protests saw 1832 arrests.[33]

In December 2019, the World Meteorological Organization released its annual climate report revealing that climate impacts are worsening.[34] 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.[35]

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.[36]

Banking and finance

In the first half of 2019, global debt levels reached a record high of $250 trillion, led by the US and China.[37] The IMF warned about corporate debt.[37] The European Central Bank raised concerns as well.[38]

EU banking

Concerns increased about the European Debt Crisis as both Greece and Italy continued to have high levels of public debt. This caused concerned about stability of the Euro. In December 2019, the EU announced that banking ministers from EU member nations had failed to reach agreement over proposed banking reforms and systemic change.[39][40] The EU was concerned about high rates of debt in France, Italy and Spain.[41] italy objected to proposed new debt bailout rules that were proposed to be added to the European Stability Mechanism.[42]

Foreign policy

Brexit negotiations

In March 2019, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May and European leaders negotiated an extension for the Parliament of the United Kingdom to ratify the Brexit withdrawal agreement.[43][44] The EU position was that the negotiation of terms for withdrawal had already ended in November 2018, and that the extension was only to give the UK Parliament more time to consider the Agreement.[45] Negotiations during 2019 have been primarily within the UK Parliament on whether to accept the Theresa May Government's negotiated settlement, to leave the EU without any agreement, or to abandon Brexit.

In July, the newly assembled Boris Johnson ministry declared intention to re-open negotiations on the withdrawal agreement, with the Irish backstop removed as a pre-condition. UK and EU negotiators met for the first time on 28 August and meetings "will continue twice a week".[46] Fresh proposals were released by the Johnson ministry in October, which the EU dismissed as unworkable.[47][48]

The Benn Act, passed by the UK parliament in September, required the prime minister to seek a further extension in the event that by 19 October, a deal has not been reached and parliament has not given its consent to a No-deal Brexit.[49] On 28 October 2019, the date was moved back to 2020.[50]

World trade

US-China Trade Dispute

A trade dispute between the USA and China caused economic concerns worldwide. In December 2019, various US officials said a trade deal was likely before a proposed round of new tariffs took effect on 15 December 2019.[51] US tariffs had a negative effect on China's economy, which slowed to growth of 6%.[51] In December 2019, new deal was announced regarding US-China trade dispute.[52]

See Also

• 2019
• 2019 in the United Kingdom
• 2019 in politics and government
• 2010s in United Kingdom political history
• 2020s in United Kingdom political history

References

1. "NHS long-term plan: Focus on prevention 'could save 500,000 lives'". BBC. 7 January 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
2. "Brexit: MPs defeat government over no-deal preparations". BBC. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
3. "Brexit: MPs' vote piles fresh pressure on Theresa May". BBC. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
4. "Brexit: Theresa May urges MPs to 'take a second look' at her deal – Politics live". The Guardian. 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
5. "PM's Brexit deal rejected by 230 votes". 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
6. "Brexit deal: How did your MP vote?". 15 January 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
7. "May's government survives no confidence vote". BBC. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
8. Warsaw, UK builds support for Yemen ceasefire. British foreign secretary puts focus on Yemen, as US officials visit military bases ahead of Middle East conference. By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN 2/13/19, politico.eu.
9. "Fracking halted after government pulls support". BBC News. 2 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
10. "Fracking banned in UK as government makes major U-turn". The Guardian. 2 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
11. "Tory MP Ross Thomson quits after 'grope' claim by Labour MP Paul Sweeney". BBC News. 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
12. "UK terrorism threat downgraded to 'substantial'". BBC News. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
13. "Sir Lindsay Hoyle elected Speaker of House of Commons". BBC News. 4 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
14. "18 female members of Parliament say they are resigning due to threats, abuse". The Hill. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
15. "All Mothercare UK stores to close". BBC News. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
16. "Starting gun fired on five-week race for No 10". BBC News. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
17. "Extinction Rebellion: Group wins challenge to London police ban". BBC News. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
18. "Alun Cairns resigns in Ross England rape trial 'sabotage' row". BBC News. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
19. "General election 2019: Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson stands down". BBC News. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
20. "No 10 'fears embarrassment of report into Russian influence'". The Times. 7 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
21. Lee, Dave (19 November 2019). "Election debate: Conservatives criticised for renaming Twitter profile 'factcheckUK'". BBC News. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
22. Waterson, Jim (19 November 2019). "Tories pretend to be factchecking service during leaders' debate". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
23. "Twitter accuses Tories of misleading public with 'factcheck' foray". The Guardian. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
24. "Statement on @CCHQPress Twitter rebrand" (Press release). The Electoral Commission. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
25. "Outrage as Tory press office Twitter rebrands as fact check account". Evening Standard. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
26. "Twitter threatens 'corrective action' against Boris Johnson's Conservatives party after it created a fake fact-checking service". Business Insider. 20 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
27. Stewart, Heather (12 December 2019). "Exit poll predicts 86-seat majority for Boris Johnson and Conservatives". The Guardian.
28. "Jeremy Corbyn: 'I will not lead Labour at next election'". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
29. "Scotland election results 2019: SNP wins election landslide in Scotland". BBC. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
30. "Subscribe to read | Financial Times". www.ft.com.
31. "Corbyn to step down as Labour leader as party suffers major defeat". Evening Standard. 13 December 2019.
32. "Over 1000 Extinction Rebellion Activists Were Arrested In April – This Is What Happened To Them". Huffington Post. 7 August 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
33. "Extinction Rebellion plot for more protests in London over Christmas". Evening Standard. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
34. Fountain, Henry (4 December 2019). "Climate Change Is Accelerating, Bringing World 'Dangerously Close' to Irreversible Change". The New York Times.
35. 2019 Ends Warmest Decade On Record, State Of The Global Climate Report Warns, iflscience.com
36. "Global carbon emissions growth slows, but hits record high". Stanford University. 3 December 2019 – via phys.org.
37. Srivastava, Spriha (15 November 2019). "Global debt surged to a record $250 trillion in the first half of 2019, led by the US and China". CNBC.
38. "45.6% Of Eurozone's Corporate Debt Is BBB". The Corner. 23 November 2019.
39. Eurozone ministers divided over banking union negotiations.
40. "EU ministers fail to advance eurozone reforms". Recorder Report. 6 December 2019.
41. Rios, Beatriz (21 November 2019). "EU concerned over France, Italy and Spain debts". EURACTIV.com.
42. Italy Takes Issue With the ESM Proposals to reform the eurozone’s bailout fund are being hotly contested in Italy amid concerns that the ESM could set the country back on rebuilding finances after the sovereign debt crisis, by Lana Guggenheim.
43. "Brexit pushed back by at least two weeks". 22 March 2019. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
44. "EU Leaders Agree to Delay Brexit Deadline to October 31". Politico Europe. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
45. "Brexit: UK and EU agree delay to 31 October". 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
46. Heather Stewart, Severin Carrell and Jennifer Rankin (29 August 2019). "Time to step up tempo of Brexit talks, says bullish Boris Johnson". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
47. Peter Walker (26 July 2019). "UK on course for no-deal Brexit as Johnson rejects EU agreement". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
48. "EU leaders criticise UK Brexit proposals". 9 October 2019 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
49. "European Union (Withdrawal) (No. 2) Act 2019". legislation.gov.uk. HM Government. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
50. Brexit: Johnson agrees to Brexit extension - but urges election BBC News 28 October 2019
51. US, China trade deal expected before tariff increase: Report. Trump's 'off the cuff' comments not a sign talks are at an impasse. foxnews.com
52. Horowitz, Julia (16 December 2019). "Investors react to initial US-China trade deal". CNN Business.