London riots of 2011Police engaging rioters and looters in London's Camden borough, 2011.hughepaul
Although the United Kingdom remained outside of the euro zone, it was anything but unaffected by the events of the European sovereign debt crisis triggered by Greece’s financial collapse in 2009. Because many of Britain’s principal trading partners were euro-zone members, their economic woes impacted directly on the already sluggish economy of a Britain struggling mightily to reduce its deficit and combat unemployment.
Cameron created controversy in December 2011 when he effectively vetoed changes to the Lisbon Treaty (negotiated at an EU summit) that would have increased economic integration among the EU countries and imposed sanctions on members that surpassed an agreed-upon deficit limit. His actions strained the Conservatives’ coalition partnership with the Liberal Democrats and were criticized by Deputy Prime Minister Clegg, who called them “bad for Britain,” as well by French President Sarkozy, who said there were now two Europes—one that wanted “more solidarity between its members and more regulation” and another that was “attached only to the logic of the single market.” The 2012 London Olympics, Julian Assange’s embassy refuge, and the emergence of UKIP
Britain was the centre of world pomp and pageantry in 2012 not just because of the festive celebration of the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s ascent to the throne but because of London’s hosting of the Summer Olympic Games, which, despite initial concerns about inadequate security, were widely regarded as a smashing success. Then in mid-August 2012 the British government took issue with Ecuador’s granting of political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who had taken refuge in that country’s embassy in London after exhausting appeals under the British legal system to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges.
In spring 2013 the government announced that GDP had grown slightly in the first quarter of the year, thus preventing a slide back into a recession that would have been the third to afflict Britain in five years. Nevertheless, in local elections in parts of England and Wales in May, voters showed their dissatisfaction with the nature of the economic recovery by turning away from Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, who together lost 459 seats on English local councils. Labour made significant gains (picking up some 291 seats), but the big story of the election was the tremendous jump in representation by United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), which advocates withdrawal from the EU. By gaining 139 seats, UKIP made one of the most impressive showings by a fourth party in recent British electoral history. The birth of George, rejection of intervention in Syria, and regulation of GCHQ
On July 22, 2013, with much of the world’s media on “royal baby watch,” Catherine, duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to a boy, George, who became third in the line of succession to the British throne.
In late August, Cameron was dealt a stunning blow by Parliament’s rejection of his proposed response to events in the Syrian Civil War. Amid reports that hundreds of Syrians had been killed earlier in the month in an alleged chemical attack by the regime of Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad, Cameron asked the House of Commons to endorse in principle British military intervention in Syria. Although approval had been widely expected, MPs rejected the proposed involvement by a vote of 285 to 272—largely, it seemed, as a result of the fear of a rush to judgment regarding the cause of and responsibility for the Syrian deaths and a lack of faith in the certainty of intelligence reports in light of British involvement in the Iraq War.
In October 2013 an impassioned debate arose in the press and in Parliament over whether there was a need for greater regulation of surveillance practices of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in the wake of revelations that the agency had far greater eavesdropping capabilities than had previously been acknowledged publicly. Cameron and others condemned the news leaks (originating with former U.S. CIA and National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden) that had led to the revelations and claimed that the activities of the GCHQ were lawful and necessary for national security. The relationship of the government to the press had also been strained by the repercussions of a scandal in 2011 that involved press hacking of private phone calls, led to a public inquiry guided by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson, and resulted in the establishment of a new press watchdog system (also in October 2013). Euroskepticism
The British political landscape was shaken again in May 2014, when UKIP not only made more dramatic gains in local council elections (increasing its representation by more than 150 seats) but also finished first in elections for the European Parliament, becoming the first party other than Labour or the Conservatives in more than 100 years to triumph in a British national election. Capitalizing upon a growing wave of Euroskepticism that had a similar impact on elections to the European Parliament elsewhere (most notably in France, Denmark, and Hungary), the virulently anti-EU UKIP won 27 percent of the vote and 24 seats (a gain of 11 seats) to 20 seats for Labour (a gain of 7) and 19 seats for the Conservatives (a loss of 7). The biggest loser in the election was the generally pro-EU Liberal Democratic Party, which fell from 11 seats to a single representative, mirroring the tumble it took in the local elections and prompting some in the party to call for Clegg’s replacement as leader. Scottish independence referendum
On September 18, 2014, a referendum was held in Scotland on independence from the United Kingdom. The referendum, which had been agreed to by Cameron in 2012, asked a single simple question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?” Vigorous campaigns had been conducted on both sides of the question, with former prime minister Brown playing a prominent role in opposition to the referendum and proposing a plan that called for codification of the purpose of the United Kingdom, for recognition of the Scottish Parliament as permanent and indissoluble, and for increased income taxing powers for the Scottish government. Although opinion polls had long indicated that a solid majority of Scots opposed independence, as the day of voting approached, the “yes” side had gained tremendous momentum, and polling indicated that the outcome was very much in question, with the “no” side holding a slight edge. With the vote just days off, Cameron, Clegg, and Labour Party leader Ed Miliband had jointly published in the newspaper Daily Record a “vow” to increase powers for Scotland’s government if the referendum was rejected. On the day of the vote, some 85 percent of registered voters went to the polls and convincingly defeated the referendum, with about 55 percent voting “no” and about 45 percent voting “yes.” Following the result, Cameron promised to move swiftly to redeem his promise to devolve more powers to Scotland. He appointed an all-party commission, led by Lord Smith of Kelvin, to consider the details. Economic recovery
The U.K.’s economy grew by about 3 percent in 2014. By the end of the year, it had reversed the decline that it suffered during the recession that started in 2008. Unemployment, which had peaked at 8.5 percent in 2011, fell to 6 percent in the second half of 2014. However, wages continued to rise more slowly than inflation. The combination of low pay raises and the expansion of low-wage jobs meant that tax revenues during the year were lower than expected. That shortfall contributed to a rise in the government’s net deficit, which toward the end of 2014 was running about 10 percent higher than during the same period a year earlier.