Events from 2018 in England
Incumbent
Events
January
1 January –
Four young men die in unrelated New Year London stabbings. A fire at the Liverpool Echo Arena car park destroys 1,400 cars. 3 January – the NHS in England cancels all non-urgent treatments from mid-January until the end of the month, as reports emerge of patients facing long waits for treatment and being stuck on trolleys in corridors, and of ambulances left queuing outside A&E. 5 January – Jon Venables, one of the killers of toddler James Bulger in 1993, is charged over indecent images of children. 8 January – Princess Charlotte starts attending Willcocks Nursery School, London. 8 January – Prime Minister Theresa May announces a Cabinet reshuffle. 9 January – The manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products with plastic microbeads is banned in England, with a ban on their sale due to come into force by July 2018. 11 January – Theresa May pledges to eradicate all plastic waste throughout England by 2042. 12 January – Nottingham railway station damaged by fire, which the local authorities treat as arson. 22 January – Buckingham Palace announces that Princess Eugenie of York is to marry her long-term boyfriend Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel, Windsor in the autumn. 25 January – Industry body Water UK announces that all shops, cafes and businesses in England will provide free water refill points in every major city and town by 2021. The number of rough sleepers in England reaches the highest level since records began – an estimated 4,751. 26 January A water main in the London district of Hammersmith bursts, flooding the area's main shopping street, King Street. Three teenage boys on their way to a sixteenth birthday party are killed when a car mounts a pavement in Hayes, West London. Police arrest a 28-year-old man on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. A second, 34-year-old man, who fled the scene, later hands himself in to police. 30 January Chris Parker, a homeless man who stole from victims of the Manchester Arena bomb attack, is jailed for four years and three months. 31 January Shares in government contractor Capita plunge more than 40% after the company issues a profit warning. Another water main bursts in West London, this time in Shepherd's Bush, flooding Goldhawk Road, one of the main streets in the area.
February
2 February – Finsbury Park Mosque attacker Darren Osborne, who drove a van into a group of Muslims, is jailed for life, with a minimum term of 43 years. 3 February – British Youtuber KSI defeats fellow British Youtuber Joe Weller in 3 rounds in a YouTube Boxing match at the Copper Box Arena. The event is considered the biggest events in YouTube History as 20 million people are believed to have watched the fight on live streams. KSI then called out American Youtuber Logan Paul and his brother named Comedyshortsgamer fought American Youtuber Jake Paul on 25 August 2018 at the Manchester Arena. 7 February Jon Venables, one of the killers of toddler James Bulger, is jailed for possessing child abuse images for a second time. Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, backs a ruling by the High Court that victims of the serial sex offender John Worboys can challenge in court the parole board's decision to release him from prison. 8 February – NHS hospitals in England record their worst ever A&E performance, with only 77.1% of patients treated within four hours in January, far short of the 95% target. 9 February – Trinity Mirror purchases Northern & Shell, chaired by Richard Desmond, for £126.7 million. 21 February – Jack Whitehall presented the 2018 Brit Awards, which took place in The O2, London, and was broadcast live on ITV. 28 February – An earthquake of magnitude 3.2 and depth of 4 km hits Mosser, Cumbria. It was felt in Grasmere, Kendal, Cockermouth and Keswick and was the second earthquake to hit the United Kingdom within two weeks.