1 January – The Divorce Reform Act 1969 came into effect in England and Wales, allowing couples to divorce after a separation of two years (five if only one of them agrees). A divorce can also be granted on the grounds that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, and it is not essential for either partner to prove "fault".[1] It was revealed on 19 January 1972 that the number of divorces in the United Kingdom during 1971 exceeded 100,000 for the first time.
21 January – After collapsing in March 1969, a newly reconstructed Emley Moor transmitter in West Yorkshire started transmitting again. Now a concrete tower, at 1084 feet (330.4m), it is the United Kingdom's tallest freestanding structure.
Enoch Powell predicted an "explosion" unless there was a massive repatriation scheme for the immigrants.
24 February – Home SecretaryReginald Maudling announced the Immigration Bill that was set to strip Commonwealth immigrants of their right to remain in the United Kingdom.[7] The bill was supported by Enoch Powell, but the former shadow cabinet minister continued to demand a massive voluntary repatriation scheme for the immigrants.[8]
The Vehicle & General insurance company collapsed leaving 500,000 motorists uninsured.[10]
7 March – Following the recent protests in London, some 10,000 striking workers protested in Glasgow against the Industrial Relations Bill.
8 March – The national postal workers' strike ended after 47 days. Among alternatives privately offered during the strike was the Vectis postal service.[11]
1 April – The United Kingdom lifted all restrictions on gold ownership with the Exchange Control (Gold Coins Exemption) Order 1971.[12] Since 1966 British citizens had been banned from holding more than four gold coins or from buying any new ones unless they held a licence.
British Leyland launched the Morris Marina which succeeded the Minor (a smaller model, production of which ceased after 23 years with 1.6 million sold) and Oxford models and was similar in size to the Ford Cortina (to which it had been designed as a direct competitor), Vauxhall Victor and Hillman Hunter. It had 1.3 and 1.8 litre petrol engines, rear-wheel drive and a choice of four-door family saloon and two-door coupé body styles, with a five-door estate set to follow in the next two years.[14]
11 May – The Daily Sketch, the United Kingdom's oldest tabloid newspaper, was withdrawn from circulation after 62 years[16] and absorbed by the Daily Mail.
Several Labour run councils threatened to increase rates in order to continue the free supply of milk to school children aged over seven years, in reaction to Thatcher's plans to end free milk supply to school children of that age group. Thatcher defended her plans, saying that the change would free more money to be spent on the construction of new school buildings.[18]
13 July – Barlaston man Michael Bassett, 24, was found dead in his fume-filled car. Police identified him as their prime suspect in the recent triple French tourist murder in Cheshire.[20]
22 July – A BOAC flight from London to Khartoum is ordered to land at Benghazi (Libya) where two leaders of the unsuccessful 1971 Sudanese coup d'état, travelling as passengers, are forced to leave the plane and subsequently executed.[22]
6 August – Chay Blyth became the first person to sail around the world east to west against the prevailing winds.[25]
9 August – British security forces in Northern Ireland detained hundreds of guerrilla suspects and put them into Long Kesh prison – the beginning of an internment without trial policy. Twenty died in the riots that followed, including 11 in the Ballymurphy Massacre.[26]
7 September – The death toll in the Troubles of Northern Ireland reached 100 after three years with the death of 14-year-old Annette McGavigan, who was fatally wounded by a gunshot in crossfire between British soldiers and the IRA.
9 September – British ambassador Geoffrey Jackson was freed after being held captive for eight months by extreme left-wing guerrillas in Uruguay.[28]
24 September – Operation FOOT: the United Kingdom expelled 90 Soviet Union intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover for spying, partly prompted by revelations made by KGB defector Oleg Lyalin earlier in the year; a further 15 staff on leave in the USSR were not allowed to return to the UK.[29]
10 November – The 10-route Spaghetti Junction motorway interchange was opened north of Birmingham city centre, incorporating the A38(M) (Aston Expressway) and the southern section of the M6 motorway. The interchange would have a total of 12 routes when the final stretch of the M6 was opened the following year.[37]
22 November – Cairngorm Plateau disaster: Five children and one adult on an expedition die of exposure in the Scottish Highlands.[38]
2 December – The Queen's yearly allowance was increased from £475,000 to £980,000.
4 December – McGurk's Bar bombing: Fifteen people were killed and 17 injured in a bomb attack that destroyed a bar in Belfast, the highest death toll from a single incident in the city during "The Troubles". The Ulster Volunteer Force is believed to have been behind the bombing.[39]
Banking and Financial Dealings Act passed, updating the definition of bank holidays in the U.K.
Trial of the Mangrove Nine, a group of black activists, concluded with them being acquitted of the most serious charge (incitement to riot at a 1970 protest against police targeting of The Mangrove, a London Caribbean restaurant) and judicial acknowledgement of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.[41]
29 December – The United Kingdom gave up its military bases in Malta.
The government introduced a policy of Competition and Credit Control, lifting quantitative limits on lending by retail banks and allowing them greater freedom to offer savings accounts.[44]
^"Archived copy"(PDF). www.parliament.uk. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 February 2006. Retrieved 13 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Davies, Glyn (1996). A History of Money from ancient times to the present day (rev. ed.). Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN0-7083-1351-5.
^Warner, David (2011). The Yorkshire County Cricket Club: 2011 Yearbook (113th ed.). Ilkley, Yorkshire: Great Northern Books. p. 369. ISBN978-1-905080-85-4.
^"Neil Jenkins". Welsh Rugby Union. Archived from the original on 20 July 2008. Retrieved 23 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)